*

Asian stock markets: https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4

*

Nikkei dips, S&P 500 futures flat

*

US and European inflation data loom in holiday week

*

Japan warns on yen weakness ahead of 152.00 per dollar

*

PBOC sets a firmer fix for yuan

(Updates at 1300 GMT)

By Huw Jones

LONDON, March 25 (Reuters) - Stock markets took a

breather on Monday from their record highs of recent sessions as

investors looked to an abbreviated trading week, capped by key

U.S. inflation data on Friday, due to the impending Easter

holiday.

U.S. stock index futures were

slightly weaker.

Market participants are hoping that Friday's U.S. prices

data will back investor bets for a June interest rate cut by the

Federal Reserve.

Boeing Co was a focus on Wall Street after the

planemaker said its CEO Dave Calhoun would step down by year-end

amid a sprawling safety crisis.

Oil benchmark Brent hovered close to $86 a barrel as

hostilities intensified in the Middle East, and between Russia

and Ukraine, with energy infrastructure targeted in the two-year

old war.

The dollar slipped, with the threat of currency

intervention from Japanese authorities and a government-driven

rally in China's yuan weighing on the U.S. currency.

The yen was within striking distance of a 32-year low as

Japan's top currency diplomat said on Monday the unit's

weakness did not reflect fundamentals.

The MSCI All Country stock index was down

0.1%, though still only about 5 points below its all-time high

of last Thursday.

In Europe, the STOXX index of 600 companies was a

touch weaker at 508.10 points after hitting a lifetime high of

510.46 points on Friday. Goldman Sachs raised its 2024 target

for the benchmark to 540 from 510, citing potential improvement

in economic growth and rate cuts.

U.S. stock indexes also hit record highs last week, with the

S&P 500 on Friday ending with its biggest weekly

percentage gain of 2024 after the U.S. Federal Reserve stuck

with projections for three rate cuts by year's end.

Jason Da Silva, director of global investment strategy at

Arbuthnot Latham, said the Fed's comments gave markets some

comfort, and Monday's signs of consolidation in stocks should

not be surprising after the momentum seen so far this year.

"The market is just taking in what it's seen in the last

week or two, but unless there are any major surprises in either

inflation or growth, it's hard to see where the market cracks

come through," Da Silva said.

U.S. INFLATION DATA

The main data event of the week will be the U.S. core

personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index on Friday,

which is seen rising 0.3% in February, keeping the annual pace

at 2.8%. Analysts say that anything higher would be taken as a

setback to bets for a Fed rate cut in June.

Many markets are closed for the Easter break on Friday, when

the PCE data is due for release, so the full reaction may not

come until next week.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell was sufficiently dovish last week to

leave futures implying around a 74% chance of a June easing, up

from 55% a week earlier.

Powell will participate in a moderated discussion at a

policy conference on Friday, while Fed governors Lisa Cook and

Christopher Waller are also appearing this week.

Europe has its own inflation tests with consumer price data

out from France, Italy, Belgium and Spain, ahead of the overall

EU CPI report on April 3.

Sweden's central bank meets on Wednesday and is generally

expected to keep rates at 4.0%.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei dipped 1.1%, having spiked

5.6% last week to a fresh all-time peak as the yen weakened.

Even a shift away from super-easy policies by the Bank of

Japan (BOJ) could not dent the dollar, as investors assumed it

was not the start of a series of hikes and futures imply a rate

of just 20 basis points by year end.

The dollar was at 151.22 yen, having climbed 1.6%

last week to a peak of 151.86. Markets are wary of testing

152.00, a level that has drawn Japanese intervention in the

past.

The euro was at $1.0831, having been dragged down

in the wake of the Swiss franc after the SNB's rate cut.

The strength of the dollar had taken some shine off gold,

though the metal was edging higher again to $2,174 an ounce

, after hitting a record peak last week.

Oil prices were underpinned by Ukraine's attacks on Russian

refineries, along with data showing a fall in U.S. rig counts.

Brent rose 0.3% to $85.74 a barrel, while U.S. crude

firmed 0.4% to $80.98 per barrel. Both benchmarks have

risen steadily this year, up between 11 and 12.5% by Friday's

close.