* Global stocks hit record high, Wall St seen opening lower
* Markets await Fed minutes for rate hike clues
* Sterling dips vs dollar after 2016 GDP growth revised down
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2017 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
By Nigel Stephenson
LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Global stocks hit record highs on Wednesday, topping 2016's gains just two months into 2017, while the dollar rose before Federal Reserve minutes that will be scoured for clues about the next U.S. interest rate rise.
MSCI's main index of global stocks .MIWD00000PUS , which tracks share prices across 46 countries, hit a second successive record high. It has risen some 5.7 percent so far this year, beating the 5.6 percent gains of 2016.
However, Wall Street looked set to open lower, index futures suggested, and European shares edged lower after failing to maintain early gains.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX dipped 0.1 percent on Wednesday, led lower by miners .SXPP as metals prices fell. Heavyweights Anglo American AAL.L and BHP Billiton BLT.L lost 3.6 and 2.6 percent respectively.
On the plus side, Britain's Lloyds Banking Group LLOY.L was up 3.8 percent after reporting its highest full-year profit in a decade. broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.6 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng .HSI rose 1 percent but Japan's Nikkei <.N225. bucked the trend, closing marginally lower as the yen strengthened.
Relatively strong earnings seasons in Europe and the United States, forecast-beating economic data and U.S. President Donald Trump's promises of tax reform, less regulation and more infrastructure spending have all helped lift stocks this year.
All three main U.S. indexes hit record closing highs on Tuesday.
The day's most anticipated event for markets will be the release of the minutes of the Fed's last policy meeting.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen said last week it was likely the central bank would need to raise rates at an upcoming meeting. Markets have priced in only a slim chance of a rise next month but a much greater likelihood by June.
The dollar rose 0.3 percent against a basket of major currencies .DXY and 0.3 percent versus the euro EUR= .
The single currency has suffered recently on investor worries about European politics, particularly in France where anti-euro, far-right party leader Marine Le Pen leads polls before presidential elections in April and May. is politics as well as markets increasingly betting on an imminent rate hike by the Fed," said Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) strategist Thu Lan Nguyen. "Volatility is rising as investors start to prepare for the elections."
Sterling dipped 0.3 percent to $1.2435 GBP= after revised data showed the UK economy grew at its fastest pace in a year in the last three months of 2016 but by less than previously estimated for the whole of 2016. pound rose 0.1 percent to 84.4 pence per euro EURGBP= . Euro/sterling closed below its 200-day moving average, a long-term gauge watched closely by fund managers, on Tuesday for the first time since December 2015.
The yen rose 0.5 percent to 113.12 per dollar JPY= .
GAP WIDENS
European politics and the prospect of higher U.S. rates pushed the gap between short-dated U.S. and German government bond yields to its widest in nearly 17 years.
German two-year yields DE2YT=RR hit a record low of minus 0.91 percent while U.S. equivalents touched 1.24 percent.
Analysts said jitters over the French vote have stoked demand for top-quality debt. Bottlenecks caused by the European Central Bank's bond-buying programme and upcoming regulatory changes have amplified the decline the yields. are a host of special factors driving two-year German bond yields lower and on the other side of the Atlantic we have the Fed contemplating another hike, which is driving up U.S. equivalents," ING strategist Martin van Vliet said.
German 10-year yields DE10YT=TWEB fell 5 basis points to 0.26 percent, their lowest in more than a month.
Oil prices dipped as the dollar rose but held near their multi-week high. Brent crude, the international benchmark, traded at $56.37 a barrel, down 29 cents.
Copper also fell, as traders reduced their positions before the Fed minutes, though supply disruptions supported prices. The metal last traded at $6,030 a tonne CMCU3 , down 0.5 percent on the day. Nickel CMNI3 , zinc CMZN3 , aluminium CMAL3 and tin CMSN3 also fell.
Gold XAU= edged up 0.1 percent to $1,237 an ounce.
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