Stock markets from Asia to Europe, and initially on Wall Street, had jumped on Chinese gross domestic product data that showed the slowest growth last year in a quarter century.

Shares in Europe rose more than 1 percent, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> gained 1.6 percent.

But the market's euphoria struck Simon Smith, chief economist at online brokerage FxPro, as odd, given that weak GDP data are strange reasons to cheer China. Stimulus can only mean more interest rate cuts or reduced reserve requirements, which would weaken the Chinese currency further.

"Most of the time developed markets have been happy to ignore and be totally uncorrelated to the China markets," he said.

All three major U.S. equity indexes declined as crude prices traded below $29 a barrel. The International Energy Agency, which advises developed countries on energy policy, said the market should remain oversupplied this year and weaker prices could lie ahead.

The possibility that oil may tumble further has reminded investors of the financial crisis in 2008 when many financial stocks cratered and their prices never recovered to former levels, Rick Meckler, president of hedge fund LibertyView Capital Management LLC in Jersey City, New Jersey.

"You're just having this testing of what the bottom on energy is and no one knows the impact of a complete collapse the energy industry would have on U.S. equity prices," he said, adding that people are afraid oil prices might collapse.

MSCI's all-country world stock index <.MIWD00000PUS> traded 0.26 percent, pulling back from gains of more than 1 percent. In Europe, the pan-regional FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> closed 1.37 percent higher at 1,310.95.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 41.26 points, or 0.26 percent, to 15,946.82. The S&P 500 <.SPX> slid 8.91 points, or 0.47 percent, to 1,871.42 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> lost 39.79 points, or 0.89 percent, to 4,448.63.

Brent crude futures closed a touch higher, while the U.S. futures contract slid; their prices settled 30 cents apart. The U.S. contract did not settle on Monday, a U.S. holiday.

Brent crude futures rose 0.74 percent to settle at $28.76 a barrel. U.S. crude futures fell 3.26 percent to settle at $28.46. Earlier they had touched an intra-day high of $30.21.

Investor risk appetite initially improved on the expectation of further stimulus in China and rising prices for Brent, the global benchmark. Chinese oil demand likely hit a record in 2015, helping bolster the global oil benchmark.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major trading currencies, pared most gains to trade 0.07 percent <.DXY> higher. The dollar added 0.18 percent against the Japanese currency , moving to 117.52 yen.

Against the euro , the dollar slipped 0.25 percent to $1.0917.

The benchmark U.S. Treasury note fell 3/32 to lift its yield to 2.0434 percent.

Top-rated German bond yields rose as investors favored riskier assets. The price of 10-year German bonds , viewed as a safe-haven in times of market turmoil, fell and its yield rose 1.5 basis points to 0.485 percent, off the day's high just above 0.50 percent.

U.S. gold for February delivery fell $1.60 to settle at $1,089.10 an ounce.

(Reporting by Herbert Lash; Editing by James Dalgleish and Nick Zieminski)

By Herbert Lash