(Adds detail, quotes, updates prices)
By Tom Miles
HONG KONG, March 6 (Reuters) - A glimmer of hope for the
U.S. economy lifted Asian stocks on Thursday, despite oil
prices storming to a new high and many investors seeking
shelter in rainy-day assets such as bonds and gold.
Equity investors pinned their hopes on a report released on
Wednesday by the Institute for Supply Management that showed
the U.S. services sector was not as weak as expected, shrinking
in February at a slower pace than in January. []
Share traders also took solace in the dollar stabilising
against the yen <JPY=>, retracing a 5 percent plunge that began
8 days ago. But the dollar weakened to a fresh record beyond
$1.53 to the euro <EUR=> and hit its lowest ever against a
basket of major currencies <.DXY>.
The comeback against the yen, restoring some of U.S. buying
power for Asia's exports, encouraged Japanese investors and
briefly lifted the Nikkei average <> by as much as 3
percent, before it closed up 1.9 percent at 13,215.42 points.
Stock markets across the rest of Asia, measured by MSCI's
index <.MIAPJ0000PUS>, rose 1.7 percent by 0600 GMT. Taiwan's
main share index rose 2.1 percent to end at a 3-month high,
spurred by PC seller Acer <2353.TW> and hopes that a March 22
presidential election could bring closer ties with China.
OIL PRICE ANAESTHETIC
The thought of the U.S. economy doing better than feared
seemed to soften the blow from a fresh record in oil prices,
usually a sign of rising costs across the board.
U.S. crude <CLc1> neared $105 a barrel on Wednesday after
the export cartel OPEC decided not to raise output and data
showed U.S. oil inventories had fallen sharply. Prices edged
back to $104.39 in Asian trade, still more than a dollar above
the earlier record mark.
Even investors in oil-dependent airlines took the price
spike in their stride. Air New Zealand Ltd <AIR.NZ> and Korean
Air <003490.KS> rose more than 2 percent and Australia's Qantas
Airways <QAN.AX> finished 4.4 percent higher.
Financial bookmakers in London expect Britain's FTSE 100
<> to open 8 to 11 points higher, Germany's DAX <>
to open between 3 points higher and 8 points lower, and
France's CAC-40 <> to open flat to down 5 points.
Oil's perkiness was reflected in gold <XAU=>, a safe-haven
asset which has also hit repeated records this year. It stood
at $986.10/6.90 by 0546 GMT, within striking distance of the
$1,000 milestone, which some traders see in terms of "when, not
if".
"It's difficult to say at this juncture if we will touch
the $1,000 mark. I guess it really depends on how long oil
prices remain above $100," said Darren Heathcote of Investec
Australia.
Copper futures also rose in Shanghai <SCFK8> after London
futures <MCU3=LX> surged to within 1 percent of a record high
on Wednesday as the dollar-priced metal attracted buyers, many
of whom may be hoping hot Chinese demand will keep prices
sizzling.
"Demand is strong but not that strong. Investors should be
cautious," said Judy Zhu, commodity analyst at Standard
Chartered Bank. "The recent rally is purely based on
speculative interest rather than fundamentals."
CREDIT WORRIES
The commodities rally lifted resources companies such as
BHP Billiton Ltd <BHP.AX>, which rose 2 percent, and PetroChina
Co Ltd <0857.HK>, which added 4.6 percent, helping stock
markets in Sydney and Hong Kong bounce back from the latest
slide.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index <> rose 2.2 percent while
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index <> gained 1.1 percent,
pulled back by fear of further fallout from the global credit
crisis.
"People are still very concerned about further bad news out
of the banks," said Argo Investments fund manager Chris Halls.
Those concerns were reinforced on Wednesday by Cleveland
Federal Reserve President Sandra Pianalto who said the crisis
created big risks to an already softening economy
[] and Thornburg Mortgage Inc <TMA.N>, a struggling
mortgage lender, which said its failure to meet a margin call
had triggered defaults under a variety of lending agreements.
[]
The continuing worries kept demand for safe-haven bonds
buzzing, driving up Japanese government bond futures. March
10-year futures <2JGBv1> rose as high as 138.98, their highest
since September 2005.
"The Thornburg news raised concerns there may be more
similar failures, highlighting that the credit market crisis is
far from over," said a senior dealer at a U.S. securities firm.
(Additional reporting by Masayuki Kitano in TOKYO, Lewa
Pardomuan in SINGAPORE, Geraldine Chua in SYDNEY; editing by
Tomasz Janowski)
