(Corrects paragraph 5 to show ADP private-sector job losses slowed in December from November, but were not smaller than expected)
* Global stocks slightly higher
* Dollar rises against yen, euro recovers
* U.S jobs data on Friday in focus (Adds U.S. data and trading, byline and NEW YORK dateline)
By Al Yoon and Jeremy Gaunt
NEW YORK/LONDON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Global stocks edged higher on Wednesday after U.S. services sector data supported a slow but steady recovery, and lifted the dollar against the Japanese yen.
Trading across most asset classes remained thin, however, as traders refrained from sharp moves before a Friday report on the U.S. labor market that is a keystone to the recovery story that since March has driven world stocks up to 15-month highs.
The Institute for Supply Management said its services index rose to 50.1 from 48.7 in November. The reading by the private U.S. industry group was below economists' expectations of 50.5, but indicated expansion. For details, see [ID:nN06314739]
"The trend is our friend," said Torsten Slok, a senior economist at Deutsche Bank in New York. "The sign that the service sector is improving is a sign that the things are moving in the right direction."
Global shares held gains even after the ADP Employer Services report showed private-sector job losses slowed in December from November's pace, although the December figure exceeded economists' forecast. The ADP data is a precursor to the closely watched government non-farm payrolls report, where economists expect a loss of 8,000 jobs for the month. [ID:nN06314739][ID:nN04238910].
World stocks as measured by MSCI <.MIWD00000PUS> inched up 0.06 percent to 1,193.64, their highest level since the darkest days of the financial crisis in September 2008. Earlier in the session, this index hit a fresh 52-week high at 1,195.26, Reuters data showed.
Earlier in the session, two of the three major U.S. stock indexes hit fresh 52-week highs. The S&P 500 climbed as high as 1,138.17, while the Nasdaq rose as high as 2,314.07.
But by midday, Wall Street was trading flat to slightly lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> fell 4.76 points, or 0.05 percent, to 10,567.26. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> inched down just 0.23 of a point, or 0.02 percent, to 1,136.29 and the Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC>dropped 6.44 points, or 0.28 percent, to 2,302.27.
European shares rebounded from losses. The FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> rose 0.11 percent to 1,061.57. Earlier, Japan's Nikkei gained 0.46 percent to end at 10,731.45, a 15-month closing high.
The dollar rose against the yen on Wednesday, buoyed by the resignation of Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii. But the greenback's gains were limited by softer-than-expected data on U.S. private-sector jobs.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Deputy Prime Minister Naoto Kan will become finance minister, with Fujii -- one of the few experienced members of the novice Democratic Party-led government -- resigning due to ill health.
At midday in New York, the dollar
The euro took a brief battering on Wednesday on worries the European Union would not rescue fiscally struggling Greece.
European Central Bank officials were to visit Athens over the next few days to discuss Greece's financial difficulties, but foreign exchange markets were stirred up by a media report quoting ECB executive board member Juergen Stark as saying Greece would not be bailed out.
Stark's reported comments flew in the face of what EU leaders have suggested, however, and the euro recovered most of its poise.
The euro
The dollar slipped against a basket of trading-partner currencies, with the U.S. Dollar Index <.DXY> off 0.10 percent at 77.545.
Overshadowing markets was the investor apathy ahead of more confirmation that the world economy, and particularly the United States, is recovering in a sustainable manner.
As a result, much of the focus this week is on the monthly U.S. jobs data due on Friday.
"The U.S. jobs data on Friday will be important, but the feedback you are getting shows that the trend is clearly improving," said Bernard McAlinden, investment strategist at NCB Stockbrokers in Dublin.
U.S. Treasuries prices fell on Wednesday, ending a two-day recovery as investors grew nervous before the jobs report, which according to some economists may show the first month of jobs growth since December 2007.
The yield of the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note
A return to job growth could challenge bond investors' assumption that weak consumer activity will keep inflation in check and allow the Federal Reserve to make good on its promise to hold benchmark interest rates low for some time to come.
In energy and commodities markets, U.S. light sweet crude
oil