* Japanese, other Asian shares fall after prior rally
* Focus on global economy, banking system ahead of G20
* Yen gains after slight revision to GDP contraction
* Oil prices recover from prior day slump; eyes on OPEC
(Repeats item to more subscribers without changes in text)
By Rafael Nam
HONG KONG, March 12 (Reuters) - Japanese shares fell 1
percent on Thursday and other Asian markets were on the
defensive as investors viewed rare gains this week as overdone
in light of a shaky global economy and financial system.
The yen rose against the U.S. dollar after revised figures
in Japan showed the economy had contracted slightly less in the
fourth quarter than previously reported, while the New Zealand
dollar found some support on a central bank rate cut that was
smaller than some had expected.
Oil prices bounced from two days of sharp losses though the
focus remains on a meeting of OPEC this week and uncertainty
about whether the oil producers will cut production or not.
[]
Thursday's stock trading reflected a trend this year of
steep declines followed by bursts of small gains that quickly
fizzle as investors focus on the bleak global economy and
uncertainty about how to cleanse the banking system of toxic
debt.
"Market falls were in store for us as it's hard to expect
gains two days in a row, considering current market
conditions," said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, manager at SMBC Friend
Securities in Japan.
Japan's Nikkei average <> fell 1.1 percent after
surging nearly 5 percent on Wednesday.
The MSCI index of shares elsewhere in Asia-Pacific
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> dropped 0.2 percent, cutting into 5 percent of
gains over the previous two sessions.
UBS <UBSN.VX> <UBS.N> helped douse the rally sparked by
news from Citigroup <C.N> that it had been profitable in the
first two months. The Swiss bank said on Wednesday that
earnings would remain at risk due to volatile markets.
[]
Group of 20 finance ministers meet this weekend amid
investor scepticism about whether policy makers can offer
credible solutions to the global woes.
Investors are particularly eager for more details about how
the United States will cleanse its banking system of toxic debt
at the heart of the global credit crisis.
The United States and Britain on Wednesday called on
leading economies to ramp up spending to break the global
recession and to complement efforts to revamp regulations to
prevent future financial crises. []
The call for more economic stimulus has already been met
coolly by many European nations, raising doubts about whether
the G20 finance gathering in England will make much headway in
battling the deepening downturn.
DILEMMA
Major Asian stocks indexes fell. Seoul <> dropped 0.5
percent and both Singapore <.FTSTI> and Shanghai <>
slipped more than 1 percent.
Australian shares <> were steady, while Hong Kong
<> and Taiwan <> posted modest gains.
Among the big regional movers, National Australia Bank
<NAB.AX> shares rose 3.1 percent despite saying it would cut
its first-half dividend by a quarter, as investors felt
relieved that its overall business remained strong.
[]
But shares in LG Display <034220.KS> slumped 5.2 percent
after stakeholder Philips Electronics <PHG.AS> said it had sold
its remaining 13.2 percent stake in the South Korean flat panel
maker for 630 million euros ($803.6 million). []
Double digit losses on equity markets in the past month and
turmoil across the banking system have persuaded most
economists the global recession will get worse and a recovery
will be slow.
Reuters polls show the "Great Recession" will clamp leading
economies in a vicious grip well into 2010 and push
unemployment to multi-year record. []
The World Bank forecast the global economy would shrink
this year between 1 percent and 2 percent, Britain's Daily Mail
newspaper reported on Wednesday. []
Still, the yen edged higher after Japan revised its
economic contraction in the last three months of 2008 to 3.2
percent from the previously reported 3.3 percent, though that
was still the worst performance since the 1974 oil crisis.
[]
The dollar fell 0.5 percent to 96.81 yen <JPY=> after
dropping 1.5 percent on Wednesday.
The euro rose 0.18 percent to $1.2858 <EUR=> after gaining
1.4 percent on Wednesday and touching a two-week high of
$1.2865 on trading platform EBS.
The New Zealand dollar rose more than half a cent to
$0.5134 <NZD=> after the country's central bank cut its
interest rates by 50 basis points to a record low of 3.00
percent, less than some investors had bet on. []
Oil futures <CLc1> rebounded 62 cents to $42.95 a barrel,
cutting back on a 10 percent drop over the previous two
sessions on bearish data from the United States and China, the
world's two largest oil consumers and ahead of OPEC meeting
this weekend.
Gold <XAU=> edged up about $4 to $909.80 an ounce after a
recent drop that had been sparked by concerns over weak
demand.
