GLOBAL MARKETS-World stocks pause as rally matures, oil slips

(Updates with U.S. opening trade)

* MSCI world equity index down 0.1 pct at 300.38

* Shares pause after one-year bull market anniversary

* Oil weakens; yen rises broadly

By Natsuko Waki and Al Yoon

LONDON/NEW YORK, March 9 (Reuters) - World stocks edged off six-week highs on Tuesday as investors took pause on the one year U.S. bull market anniversary, while the yen rose in a sign of increased risk aversion.

Sterling hit a one-week low against the dollar, weighed by data showing a widening UK trade deficit and comments by Fitch Ratings that the UK sovereign credit profile has deteriorated.

Robust corporate performance and upbeat fourth-quarter corporate results on Monday helped investors push the benchmark MSCI world stocks above their break-even level since December. But expectations that the economic rebound could be lackluster for years have kept investors from diving deeper into equities, and sparked some profit-taking.

"People are still cautious," said Bernard McAlinden, investment strategist at NCB Stockbrokers in Dublin. "It would be tough in the near term, even though you are still in a cyclical bull market, to just race ahead."

The MSCI world equity index <.MIWD00000PUS> fell 0.1 percent, rising from lows as U.S. shares held steady at the New York open. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> lost 0.2 percent, also off its low.

Early in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> rose 11.56 points, or 0.11 percent, to 10,564.08. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> climbed 0.86 points, or 0.08 percent, to 1,139.36 and the Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> increased 5.37 points, or 0.23 percent, to 2,337.58.

One year ago, Wall Street hit a more than 12-year low in the wake of the financial crisis. The Dow has rallied about 62 percent since then.

"This past year was one of the most powerful rallies in history, and with the recent gains we've had, it makes sense that we're going to move sideways for a while," said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors in New York.

Airline and transport stocks rose after UAL Corp's <UAUA.O> chief financial officer said its United Airlines was clearly seeing signs of recovery. United gained 8 percent to $18.88, while the ARCA Airline index <.XAL> added 2.5 percent.

Airbus parent EADS <EAD.PA> lost 2.6 percent after it posted heavy losses in 2009 and scrapped its dividend. It also ruled out a solo bid for a lucrative U.S. tanker contract, leaving Boeing Co. <BA.N> closer to snaring the contract worth up to $50 billion. Boeing shares rose 1 percent.

U.S. crude oil <CLc1> was an active mover, falling 0.62 percent to $81.36 a barrel, after hitting an 8-week peak above $82 a day earlier. Forecasts for growing U.S. crude inventories tempered recent bullish sentiment.

The dollar <.DXY> gained 0.23 percent against a basket of major currencies. The dollar fell 0.39 percent to 89.91 yen <JPY=> while the euro lost 0.32 percent to $1.3584 <EUR=>.

Sterling fell as low as $1.4935 <GBP=>. Fitch also said urgency for fiscal adjustment was greatest for the UK, Spain and France among the larger AAA sovereigns.

U.S. Treasury debt prices rose ahead of a $40 billion three-year note auction as the securities are used as hedges for a heavy slate of corporate bond issuance.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes <US10YT=RR traded 5/32 point higher, pushing their yields down 0.01 percentage point to 3.70 percent.

(Additional reporting by Atul Prakash and Harpreet Bhal in London, and Emily Flitter and Ryan Vlastelica in New York; Editing by Andrew Hay)