(Updates throughout, adds comment, refreshes prices 0900 GMT)

By Amanda Cooper

LONDON, March 5 (Reuters) - Global shares eased below

their recent highs on Tuesday, as the start of China's week-long

annual session of parliament lacked any big-ticket stimulus

plans, leaving investors disappointed, while bitcoin remained

tantalisingly close to record peaks.

Equity markets took a knock from a retreat from record highs

on Wall Street on Monday, as the U.S. Federal Reserve showed no

signs of being in a rush to cut interest rates. U.S. stock

futures also pointed lower.

Meanwhile, bitcoin hit a two-year peak of $68,828,

just a whisker from a new record, while gold hovered

around $2,100 an ounce, near an all-time high of its own.

The Chinese government retained last year's target for

economic growth of "around 5%" for this year, and announced

plans to run a budget deficit of 3% of economic output, down

from a revised 3.8% last year.

It also unveiled plans to issue 1 trillion yuan ($139

billion) in special ultra-long term treasury bonds, which are

not included in the budget.

Mainland Chinese stocks reversed early losses with the

blue-chip CSI 300 up 0.7%, amid signs of suspected

state-backed buying of some exchange-traded funds.

In Europe, where many big components of the market have

heavy exposure to the Chinese economy, the STOXX 600

fell 0.3%.

The early announcements from China's NPC suggest "large

fiscal stimulus is off the table for now," said James Kniveton,

senior corporate FX dealer at Convera.

"Stability is still the overriding factor in Chinese policy

making, and the announcements so far seem to conform to that

philosophy."

Hawkish comments from Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic

on Monday that there was no urgency to cut interest rates given

inflation is above 2%, served as a reminder that there may not

be much respite for investors on the monetary policy front any

time soon.

Those remarks frayed nerves ahead of Fed Chair Jerome

Powell's semi-annual testimony to Congress later in the week, as

well as a deluge of key data on prices and jobs, culminating

with Friday's non-farm payrolls report.

Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading platform XTB,

said a pull-back, particularly in those assets that have

performed strongly in recent weeks, was not unusual.

"When we're at these key psychological levels, these record

highs, of course we're going to see a slowdown of sorts. That is

to be fully expected," she said.

"Bitcoin is doing its own thing, I see that moving higher.

Everything else, I see taking a bit of a back step," she said.

The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency

against six major peers, edged up 0.1% to 103.92.

The euro eased 0.1% to $1.0845 ahead of the

European Central Bank's policy meeting on Thursday, at which

traders see no change in rates. Futures imply an 88% probability

that cuts will start in June, roughly in line with the timing of

the first U.S. cut.

Sterling nudged down 0.1% to $1.2673 ahead of

Wednesday's UK budget. Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt has been

trying to dampen speculation about big pre-election tax cuts.

Against the yen, the dollar was steady at 150.42, following

Monday's 0.27% climb. The currency pair tends to be extremely

sensitive to moves in long-term U.S. bonds. Benchmark 10-year

Treasury yields eased 2 basis points to 4.195%,

around their lowest for two weeks.

Elsewhere, crude oil ticked lower, as demand headwinds

counterbalanced a widely expected extension of voluntary output

cuts through mid-year by the OPEC+ producer group.

Brent futures were off 0.1% at $82.72 a barrel,

while U.S. futures eased 0.2% to $78.55 a barrel.

($1 = 7.1975 yuan)

(Additional reporting by Kevin Buckland in Tokyo; Editing by

Bernadette Baum)