GLOBAL MARKETS-Shares climb, dollar steady as Fed prepares to lift rates

* Fed seen hiking rates for first time since 2006
* European shares rise, Wall Street expected to follow
* Dollar flat as traders stick on the sidelines
* Oil loses 2 percent again after jump on Tuesday
* MSCI Asia-Pacific index up 2 pct, Nikkei gains 2.5 pct
* Treasury yields nudge higher, Bund yields sag

By Marc Jones
LONDON, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Shares rose and bond markets and
the dollar were steady on Wednesday as investors readied for
what is expected to be the first rise in U.S. interest rates in
almost a decade.
After more than a year of posturing and a couple of false
starts, the Federal Reserve is seen raising its rates
USFOMC=ECI by a token 25 basis points at 1900 GMT.
It will be a highly symbolic move, coming seven years to the
day since the U.S. central bank cut them to zero as the
post-Lehman crash financial crisis engulfed the world and sent
economies spinning into recession.
"It is a foregone conclusion that the Fed is going to raise
rates," said Kully Samra, a managing director at U.S. focused
investment manager Charles Schwab (N:SCHW) in London.
"But I'm pretty sure too that Janet Yellen is going to use
the word gradual (in reference to the possible pace of future
hikes) quite a few times during the press conference."
That hope that the Fed will stress a softly softly approach
was helping soothe jittery markets that have been roiled again
over the last couple of weeks by a fresh slump in oil prices and
move down in China's increasingly influential yuan.
Wall Street was expected to open around 0.5 percent higher
ESc1 and European shares .FTEU3 0#.INDEXE were up 0.6
percent as reassuring economic data helped the main bourses
consolidate sharp gains made on Tuesday. ECONG7
Growth in Germany's private sector slowed a tad this month
Markit's PMI survey showed, but it remained a high enough level
to suggest Europe's biggest economy will see robust demand going
into the new year.
Number two economy, the UK, also saw its unemployment rate
unexpectedly fall again although wage growth remained tepid,
while Switzerland business confidence jumped too.

In the currency market it was mainly fine tuning ahead of
the Fed decision.
The dollar edged back from a near one-week high versus a
basket of other major currencies .DXY with Citi, the FX
market's single biggest player, saying positioning in the dollar
against the euro was effectively neutral now after a clearout
over the past fortnight.
"Markets are going into the announcement expecting a rate
hike but, on the surface at least, relatively relaxed that it is
priced in," added Kit Juckes, a strategist at Societe Generale (PA:SOGN)
in London.
The euro was buying $1.0916 EUR= , the dollar fetched
121.80 yen JPY= and Britain's sterling GBP= hovered just
above $1.50. FRX/

READY, FEDY, GO
Oil prices, which have been the other main obsession for
investors in recent weeks because of the pressure it puts on
producers countries and global inflation, slid back again in
early European trading.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) CLc1 fell 13 cents to $37.14
a barrel and Brent LCOc1 was down 85 cents at $37.60 to leave
them heading back towards Monday's 7-year lows. O/R
Gold XAU= rose to 1,065 an ounce and in Asia overnight,
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS had jumped 2 percent as the region caught up the
previous session's rallies in Europe and on Wall Street.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 surged 2.6 percent, rebounding from a
two-month low struck the day before as risk sentiment has blown
hot and cold ahead of one of the most-anticipated market events
this year.
Australian shares .AXJO jumped 2.4 percent, while Shanghai
stocks .SSEC edged up a more cautious 0.2 percent as another
tick down in the yuan CNY=CFXS kept investors guessing on
Beijing's plans for the traditionally controlled currency.
"A lot of capital will be looking for a temporary home
outside of the U.S. so as to avoid the likely increase in
volatility after the (Fed rate hike) hammer falls," said Martin
King, co-managing director at Tyton Capital Advisors.
"And in the context of our current world markets, for many
Japan looks like a credible home."
Asia's gains helped emerging market stocks .MSCIEF climb
1.2 percent as they gunned for their second consecutive rise
having been bashed by nine straight falls before that.
In the bond markets, both 2- and 10-year Treasury yields
US2YT=RR US10YT=RR rose fractionally ahead of the Fed
decision and after stable U.S. consumer price data had
reinforced the case for a hike. US/
It was a different story in Europe though. Benchmark German
Bund yields dipped along with the rest of the euro zone. In
sharp contrast to the Fed, the ECB has said it is prepared to
continue easing its policy if necessary. GVD/EUR
"The cyclical differences are more pronounced between
monetary policy and the inflation outlook between the U.S. and
the euro zone than in the past," said Dirk Schumacher, an
economist at Goldman Sachs (N:GS) in Frankfurt.
"But it is certainly not unprecedent that the Fed moves
first."

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Global assets in 2015 http://link.reuters.com/dub25t
Currencies vs dollar http://link.reuters.com/tak27s
Oil prices http://link.reuters.com/beb23v
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