Shares set for second best week of year so far

World shares dipped on Friday as investors locked in profits at the end of what was set to be the second best week of the year so far for stocks, while the dollar held near a four-year high against the yen.

A radical monetary stimulus plan from the Bank of Japan (BOJ) and signs of a growing recovery in China have spurred a near 3-percent jump in the MSCI world share index .MIWD00000PUS this week and sent the yen tumbling.
As investors booked some of those equity gains, a 0.3 percent pull-back in Asian equity markets was echoed in Europe, where there were also concerns that Cyprus could require more bailout money ahead of a meeting of European finance ministers.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 was down 0.7 percent by mid-morning as early losses on London's FTSE 100 .FTSE, Paris's CAC-40 .FCHI and Frankfurt's DAX .GDAXI extended to 0.6, 0.5 and 1.0 percent respectively. The MSCI world share index was 0.4 percent lower.

European Union finance ministers are meeting on Friday and Saturday, with Cyprus's bailout among the top agenda items.
Luxembourg's finance minister said that Europe and the International Monetary Fund could not increase their 10-billion euro ($13 billion) contribution to Cyprus's rescue, but economists worry that more support may be required.
"There is the potential that Cyprus may need more money, and that may be a reason for investors to book a bit of profit on the back of the recent strong run," said Central Markets' chief strategist Richard Perry.
The jitters also were seen in the currency market, where the euro was down 0.4 percent at $1.3054 and on track for its biggest daily decline in over two weeks.
The main focus remained the weakness of yen, however. The BOJ last week pledged to inject about $1.4 trillion into the economy to end a long phase of deflation and economic weakness; its move has seen the Japanese currency slump to long-term lows.
Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Friday that the central bank had taken all necessary steps to meet its two-year, 2-percent inflation target and would try to minimize the market disruption from its massive bond-buying. The yen showed little reaction to his comments.
By 5.30 a.m. ET, the dollar, which has gained about 7 percent on the yen over the past week, was off recent highs at 99.33 yen, while the euro was buying 129.78 yen.
"We are seeing some profit-taking this morning. Also dollar/yen has gone too high, too fast so we are seeing some pull-back," said Morten Helt, senior FX analyst at Danske Bank.
"Nevertheless we see dollar/yen trade higher and eventually hitting that magic 100 mark."
FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS
Europe's bond markets were eyeing the informal EU finance ministers meeting in Dublin.
Reuters obtained documents this week revealing Cyprus may have to contribute more than initially thought to its rescue package, including selling some of its gold.
German Bund futures climbed 55 basis points to 145.79 and Italian and Spanish bonds fell as investor caution crept back after what has been a better week for higher-yielding euro zone periphery debt following last week's Cyprus-linked sell-off.
"The Eurogroup is likely to dominate things. There's talk of this funding gap in Cyprus," one trader said. "I don't see a lot of good news for periphery ... There could be consolidation in the market while we wait to see what the Eurogroup says."
U.S. stock futures pointed to a softer end to the week for a Wall Street, which has set a string of record highs in recent days.
Whereas Japan's radical stimulus promise has fuelled the latest leg in a near year-long rally in world stocks, growth-attuned commodities appear to becoming increasingly disconnected from the trend.
Gold, an inflation hedge which investors would normally expect to benefit from the kind of rapid money-printing being announced in Japan, was on course for its third weekly decline on Friday as it steadied at $1554.80 an ounce.
Oil also struck a new eight-month low, slipping below $104 a barrelŸ as nervousness about conflicts involving Iran and North Korea undermined any resistance to a sell-off that was mainly pegged on concerns over slowing crude demand.
Reuters data show the difference in underlying values of stock markets and key commodity prices .TRJCRBTR is now the biggest in over a year: "We are a bit concerned about equities now," said KBC economist Piet Lammens. "We see the divergence between equities and commodities is growing.
"We started to disconnect somewhere in mid-November and since then stocks have continued to go up and up but it is not followed anymore by commodities, which might mean that equities are moving away from economic fundamentals."
(Additional reporting by Emelia Sithole-Materise and Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)