Oil falls on supply fears; world stocks, euro dip

By Rodrigo Campos

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Friday as oversupply concerns resurfaced, while the euro and stocks dipped ahead of the first round in a too-close-to-call French presidential election.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, an anti-EU politician who wants to ditch the euro and narrowly trails front-runner Emmanuel Macron in French opinion polls, seized on the killing of a policeman by a suspected Islamist militant to push her policies on national security.

"Although Macron has been labeled as favorite to become the next French president, an unexpected Le Pen victory could deal a symbolic blow to the unity of the European Union and ultimately create a tidal wave of risk aversion," FXTM analyst Lukman Otunuga said in a note.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 8.87 points, or 0.04 percent, to 20,587.58, the S&P 500 lost 2.75 points, or 0.12 percent, to 2,353.09 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.02 points, or 0 percent, to 5,916.80.

Utilities and technology were the only S&P 500 sectors firmly in the black.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.13 percent and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe shed 0.08 percent.

Emerging market stocks rose 0.30 percent. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.45 percent higher, while Japan's Nikkei rose 1.03 percent.

'RIDE OUT THE WEEKEND'

Doubts that an OPEC-led production cut will restore balance to an oversupplied market weighed on crude futures, with prices set to post their largest weekly drop in six.

U.S. crude fell 1.97 percent to $49.71 per barrel and Brent was last at $52.06, down 1.76 percent on the day.

In currency markets, the euro edged lower against the dollar as investors braced for the first round on Sunday of a tight French presidential election race, while the dollar steadied as investors squared positions ahead of the Sunday vote.

"Traders understandably look content to flatten their books and ride out the weekend's events from the sidelines," Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington, said in a note.

The dollar index rose 0.2 percent, with the euro down 0.2 percent to $1.0693.

The Japanese yen strengthened 0.17 percent versus the greenback at 109.17 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.2768, down 0.31 percent on the day.

U.S. Treasury prices gained slightly with eyes on France and no major U.S. economic releases due to set market direction. 10-year note yields have held in a tight range since falling to five-month lows on Tuesday, as investors await a catalyst to determine if bonds will continue their rally.

Benchmark 10-year notes last rose 5/32 in price to yield 2.2231 percent, from 2.241 percent late on Thursday.

Spot gold added 0.1 percent to $1,282.51 an ounce. U.S. gold futures gained 0.05 percent to $1,284.50 an ounce.

Copper lost 0.09 percent to $5,618.00 a tonne.

(Additional reporting by Tanya Agrawal in Bengaluru, Ron Bousso in London and Saqib Iqbal Ahmed and Karen Brettell in New York)