European stocks close higher; Brent dips after hitting $65

By Stephanie Kelly

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Major European stock indexes closed higher on Tuesday as the S&P and the Dow advanced further into record territory, while Brent crude oil slipped after reaching $65 per barrel for the first time since mid-2015.

Mergers and acquisitions helped boost European stocks, with the pan-European STOXX 600 <.STOXX> index up 0.66 percent.

Shares of Gemalto , a Netherlands-based digital security services company, surged 34.6 percent after a 4.3 billion euro bid from French tech consultancy Atos .

The earlier jump in oil prices also boosted energy-heavy European stock indexes, with the STOXX 600's oil and gas sector <.SXEP> jumping 1.56 percent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average last rose 155.21 points, or 0.64 percent, to 24,541.24, the S&P 500 gained 8.72 points, or 0.33 percent, to 2,668.71 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 6.98 points, or 0.1 percent, to 6,868.10.

"As we're heading into the Fed meeting today, we've seen a good strong positive global synchronized uptick in activity from an economic perspective," said Bill Northey, senior vice president at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Helena, Montana.

"The Fed is anticipated to raise rates tomorrow by another 25 basis points. It's strong confirmation of the health of the economy broadly."

The Fed, whose two-day policy meeting ends Wednesday, is widely expected to raise its benchmark interest rate to between 1.25 and 1.50 percent.

The S&P and the Dow hit record levels in early afternoon trading as Boeing shares rose and bank stocks gained.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.09 percent. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.46 percent.

OIL

Brent was last at $63.36 per barrel, down 2.06 percent on the day after Britain's Forties pipeline was shut due to cracks as a cold snap swept the country. U.S. crude fell 1.47 percent to $57.14.

The Forties pipeline is important for the global oil market because the crude it carries normally sets the price of dated Brent, a benchmark used to price physical crude around the world and which underpins Brent futures.

The shutdown comes as oil supply cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have helped drain some of the excess inventories built up following a global supply glut which began to emerge in late 2014.

Investors will keep their focus on policy decisions worldwide, with a slate of central banks, including the Fed, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England, set to meet this week.

The U.S. dollar rose to its highest since November against a basket of currencies as the Fed began a two-day policy meeting on Tuesday.

Investors will be watching for any signals that Fed officials are more optimistic on the prospect of faster growth as lawmakers appear close to passing a large overhaul of the tax code.

The dollar index rose 0.3 percent, with the euro down 0.32 percent to $1.173.

The Japanese yen weakened 0.03 percent versus the greenback at 113.60 per dollar , while sterling was last trading at $1.3306, down 0.23 percent on the day.

The New Zealand dollar reached a one-month high earlier in the day as investors welcomed the appointment of national pension fund chief Adrian Orr to head the Reserve Bank from March.

U.S. Treasury yields pared gains slightly after a $12 billion auction of 30-year government bonds.

Benchmark 10-year notes last fell 6/32 in price to yield 2.4065 percent, from 2.385 percent late on Monday.

The 30-year bond last fell 10/32 in price to yield 2.7863 percent, from 2.772 percent late on Monday.

(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly in New York; Additional reporting by Ritvik Carvalho, Helen Reid and Danilo Masoni in London, Bryan Sims in Houston, and Rama Venkat Raman and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Daniel Bases and James Dalgleish)