* Caution ahead of oil producers' meeting caps stocks
* China economy grows 6.7 pct in Q1 as expected
* Shares steady after 2.5 pct weekly rise, at 2016 highs
* Oil dips ahead of Doha producers' meeting
(Updates prices, adds comment)
By Rodrigo Campos
NEW YORK, April 15 (Reuters) - Crude oil prices fell on
Friday ahead of a weekend meeting that could yield an output
freeze by major producers, while the U.S. dollar and stocks
across the globe edged lower but were set to post weekly gains.
Indexes were slightly lower on Wall Street but the S&P 500
was set to close its seventh positive week in the last nine.
The U.S. dollar index fell as traders cashed in after three
days of gains and was weighed further by data showing U.S.
industrial production fell more than expected in March and
consumer sentiment missed expectations.
Both the MSCI index of stocks across the globe
.MIWD00000PUS and the S&P 500 .SPX hit their highest points
of the year this week and emerging market stocks .MSCIEF
racked up their best weekly gain in six. European shares
.FTEU3 fell 0.4 percent but were on track to post their
largest weekly gain in two months.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 32.09 points,
or 0.18 percent, to 17,894.34, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 3.04
points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,079.74 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC dropped 8.45 points, or 0.17 percent, to 4,937.44.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 closed 6.5 percent higher for the
week.
China's economy grew 6.7 percent in the first quarter from a
year earlier, meeting expectations and providing additional
evidence that a slowdown in the world's second largest economy
may be bottoming out.
The dollar index .DXY slipped 0.2 percent after the U.S.
currency had gained more than 1 percent against both the yen
JPY= and the euro EUR= earlier this week.
Speculation was still rife about whether top oil producers
led by Saudi Arabia and Russia will be able to reach a deal in
Qatar on Sunday to curb output.
"Overall, I think the fact that oil producers are talking
suggests that the psychology of the market has changed a little
bit and probably the worst of the oil price declines is behind
us. This would be good for risk sentiment going forward," said
Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at Scotiabank in
Toronto.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 1.8 percent at $43.06
and U.S. crude CLc1 fell 2.9 percent, trading at $40.30. Both
were on track to finish the week higher after rallies of about 8
percent in the previous week.
Safe-haven gold XAU= was on course for a weekly loss, the
first in three.
U.S. Treasury yields fell after the weaker-than-expected
economic data, which suggests sluggish inflation and could
prompt Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen to hold off on raising
U.S. interest rate hikes further according to said Lou Brien,
markets strategist at DRW Trading in Chicago.
"We do have a bid in the market and I think it's because of
the continued weakness in industrial production and
utilization," Brien said.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury note US10YT=RR rose 10/32 in
price to yield 1.7483 percent, from 1.781 percent late Thursday.