* Asia stocks rise for 2nd day as Apple results beat street
* Resource shares lead gains on China policy easing hopes
* Testimony from Fed Chairman Bernanke awaited
* Euro up ahead of euro zone bank stress test results
* Gold on back foot again after pervious day's rebound
(Repeats to more subscribers)
By Kevin Yao
SINGAPORE, July 21 (Reuters) - Asian stocks rose on
Wednesday as investors cheered Apple's strong earnings and on
optimism that China may roll back policy tighening measures
later this year, while the euro firmed ahead of euro zone's
bank stress test results late in the week.
Markets were cautious ahead of testimony from Federal
Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to Congress due at 1800 GMT for
fresh indications on the health of world's biggest economy, and
policy signals from the central bank.
European stocks were set to track Wall Street and Asia
higher, with financial spreadbetters expecting Britain's FTSE
100 <> to open 1 percent higher; Germany's DAX <> to
open up 0.8 percent, and France's CAC 40 <> to gain 1.5
percent.
The MSCI index of Asia Pacific ex-Japan stocks
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> rose 0.6 percent, led by the resources sector
<.MIAPJMT00PUS>, which jumped 1.7 percent on hopes that China's
voracious demand for commodities would remain strong. South
Korean shares <> rose 0.7 percent, buoyed by memory chip
makers such as Samsung Electronics <005930.KS> on hopes memory
chip demand would stay robust after Apple <AAPL.O> posted
stronger-than-expected results and gave an unusually upbeat
revenue forecast after the Wall Street closing bell.
Weak revenue growth reported by some other major U.S. firms
over the last week had fueled fears that its economic recovery
was losing momentum. []
"Apple's strong set of results and U.S. Nasdaq index
futures' <NDc1> subsequent gains, have prompted foreign buying
into Seoul technology stocks," said Kim Seong-bong, a market
analyst at Samsung Securities.
"Apple's earnings point to earnings growth for domestic
memory chip makers, which probably supply chips to Apple," said
Lim Dong-min, a market analyst at KB Investment & Securities.
Shares of Apple, maker of the iPhone and iPad, jumped more
than 3 percent in after-hours trade, which could help U.S.
stocks to their third straight day of gains on Wednesday.
Investors are also awaiting earnings results later on
Wednesday from the likes of Morgan Stanley <MS.N>, Coca-Cola
<KO.N> and eBay <EBAY.O>.
Indonesian stocks <> rose as much as 0.6 percent to a
record high, as investors bought into banks, consumer plays and
resource firms on the backdrop of strong growth and political
stability in Southeast Asia's largest economy.
Japan's Nikkei average <> inched down 0.2 percent,
weighed down by worries about a stronger yen and doubts over
the U.S. economic recovery.
CHINA POLICY
Overall, risk-taking in Asia was buoyed by rising optimism
that the Chinese authorities would roll back policy tightening
later this year to support economic growth.
China's annual economic growth decelerated to 10.3 percent
in the second quarter from 11.9 percent in the first quarter.
"Our base case is for loosening to occur in the three
months starting from August but even sooner is possible,"
analysts at Goldman said in a report issued this week.
In currency markets, the euro inched up against the dollar,
a day after being knocked from a 10-week high above $1.3000 due
to profit-taking ahead of euro zone bank stress test results
due out on Friday.
The euro rose slightly to $1.2895 <EUR=>. It hit $1.3029 on
Tuesday, its highest since May 10, and has now tested the
$1.3000 level for three days in a row.
Investors are likely to keep taking profits in the near
term on the euro's sharp rally which has taken it up more than
8 percent since it hit a 4-year low of $1.1876 in early June,
traders say.
The results of stress tests on 91 European banks, due for
release on Friday, are expected to show most of them would be
able to survive severe economic shocks.
But they are unlikely to solve problems for weaker banks
which need new funding capital the most, and could even raise
more questions about how authorities will treat any banks that
fail the test.
Investors are also concerned over how transparent the test
criteria and the test results will be. European Union finance
ministers were divided last week over how much of the data
should be released to the public.
A wave of capital raisings by bigger regional banks,
similar to that seen after U.S. stress tests, could also add
pressure on European and global equity markets.
Elsewhere, spot gold <XAU=> fell about $2.8 to $1,189.6
per ounce, a day after it hit a 2-month low at $1,175.35 before
rebounding sharply to above $1,190 on chart-based buying.
Gold struck a record in late June on worries the European
debt crisis would spread.
(Editing by Kazunori Takada)
