* Oil, stocks pause for breath
* Miners, banks hit by weak earnings
* Sterling still under Brexit pressure
By Jamie McGeever
LONDON, Feb 23 (Reuters) - The recovery in riskier assets
fizzled out on Tuesday as stocks, oil and the value of China's
yuan currency reversed some of their recent rise, a shift that
benefited safe-haven assets like the Japanese yen and gold.
Oil fell as much as 2.5 percent and the main European stock
indices more than 1 percent before settling down. Oil had risen
more than 5 percent on Monday and world stocks recorded their
biggest rise last week since early October.
Sterling languished near Monday's seven-year low against the
dollar after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said
additional stimulus could be injected into the British economy
if needed. ID:nL8N162191
This added to the negative tone for sterling stemming from
the resurgence in uncertainty over Britain's membership of the
European Union ahead of a June 23 referendum on the issue.
Resources stocks weighed most heavily on European equity
indices after the world's largest miner, BHP Billiton, posted
its first loss in 16 years and the Ifo measure of German
business confidence fell to a three-year low.
"Europe desperately needs its powerhouse economy to fire,
and unfortunately the German machine is merely chugging along at
best," said Dennis de Jong, managing director at UFX.com.
BHP Billiton announced a $5.67 billion net loss in the six
months to the end of December, its first loss in 16 years, and
said it would slash its interim dividend by 75 percent.
Its shares were down 3 percent BLT.L in London, helping to
pull the FTSE 100 down 0.5 percent .FTSE . Among the biggest
losers was Standard Chartered (L:STAN), whose shares were down 5 percent
after the emerging market-exposed bank reported an 84 percent
fall in annual profit. ID:nL8N16215D
Germany's DAX was down 0.7 percent .GDAXI , France's CAC 40
was 0.3 percent lower .FCHI and Europe's index of leading 300
shares was down 0.3 percent at 1303 points .FTEU3 .
STERLING EFFORT
Earlier in Asia shares retreated from a seven-week high as
the oil price rally that had boosted global equity markets
reversed. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside
Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.3 percent and Japan's Nikkei
.N225 erased morning gains to close down 0.4 percent.
Chinese stocks .SSEC closed 0.9 percent lower, their
biggest fall in three weeks, while U.S. futures pointed to a
fall of around 0.2 percent on Wall Street ESc1 .
The yuan was fixed 0.17 percent weaker at 6.5273 per dollar
CNY=SAEC , its biggest decline since early January.
Oil markets were volatile again on Tuesday, spending most of
the day firmly in the red only to eke into positive territory by
midsession in Europe. Oil had risen much as 7 percent on Monday
- and around 30 percent from their lows a month ago - as
speculation about falling U.S. shale output fed the notion that
crude prices may be bottoming after their 20-month collapse.
U.S. crude futures CLc1 were last up slightly at $33.50 a
barrel and the international benchmark Brent LCOc1 popped up a
dollar above $35 a barrel.
In currency markets the British pound GBP=D4 remained
vulnerable a day after falling nearly 2 percent, its biggest
one-day drop in almost six years, on worries Britain may leave
the European Union.
The pound hit a seven-year low of $1.4057 on Monday, after
London Mayor Boris Johnson, one of the country's most popular
ruling party politicians, announced his support for Britain to
leave the EU in June's referendum.
Sterling last stood at $1.4095, down 0.3 percent on the day.
"The whole 'Brexit' discussion is pushing us against what
has been a well held level at around $1.40 that sterling has
bounced off several times over the last three decades," said Jim
Reid, market strategist at Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn).
The euro EUR= also fell to $1.10035 on Monday, its lowest
in almost three weeks, on fears Brexit could undermine the
European project. It was last down 0.3 percent at $1.10
following the Ifo numbers from Germany. ID:nL8N1621E9
Investors' shift towards safer ground on Tuesday pushed the
dollar lower against the yen, down almost 1 percent on the day
back below 112 yen JPY= .
The dollar's index against a basket of six major currencies
.DXY hit a three-week high of 97.60 on Monday but slipped back
to 97.28 on Tuesday. This helped lift gold 0.6 percent to $1,215
an ounce XAU= .
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield was up slightly at 1.78
percent US10YT=RR .
(Editing by Hugh Lawson)