* U.S. dollar hits 3-year low, charts point to record low
* Asian stocks at 3-year high as emerging markets in favour
* Weak dlr pushes Gold to fresh record above $1500
* Brent holds above $124 as U.S. inventories fall
(Adds details, updates prices)
By Vikram Subhedar
HONG KONG, April 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar slid to a
3-year low against a basket of major currencies and Asian stocks
jumped to a 3-year high on Thursday, as investors scrambled to
get in front of upward momentum in higher-yielding assets,
particularly in emerging markets.
Investors have flocked back to risky assets due to strong
U.S. corporate earnings and signs the global economy is chugging
along even as the U.S. Federal Reserve stays very cautious about
when it will start to unwind its super-loose policy.
Dim prospects of the Fed raising interest rates anytime soon
pushed the dollar index to its lowest level since August
2008 and charts suggesting that the greenback could move towards
an all-time low of 70.698 hit earlier that year.
Asian stocks rose to their highest level since January 2008,
extending their rebound from a brief tumble earlier in the week.
The MSCI Asia ex-Japan rose 1.1 percent with
technology stocks leading gains after iPod maker Apple
crushed forecasts. []
Shares in Hynix Semiconductor , the world's No.2
memory chip maker, jumped 5.5 percent, buoyed further by a 4.3
percent spike in the U.S. Philadelphia semiconductor index
. Samsung Electronics , the world's No.1 memory
chip maker, climbed 1.2 percent.
"Risk-on mood prevailing in global markets yesterday allowed
investors to focus on fundamental strengths of emerging
economies, boosting prices of their equities," said Dariusz
Kowalczyk, analyst at Credit Agricole in Hong Kong, in a note.
Japan's Nikkei rose a more modest 0.6 percent.
"The market is looking for clues about the damage from the
quake in U.S. earnings, but it's hard to draw any conclusions as
both Apple and Intel have very diversified supply chains," said
Koichi Ogawa, chief portfolio manager at Daiwa SB Investments.
S&P 500 futures <SPc1> were trading 0.4 percent higher.
DOLLAR ON BACKFOOT, GOLD AT RECORD
The sharply weaknening U.S. dollar has suffered the most
against commodity-linked currencies such as the Australian and
Canadian dollars, as well as emerging markets currencies such as
the Singapore dollar as authorities in Asia allow more currency
strength to fight inflation.
Brazil's central bank raised its benchmark interest rate
on Wednesday to 12 percent from 11.75 percent as it
seeks to rein in consumer prices.
Spot gold hit a record high of $1507.15 an ounce and
spot silver soared to a 31-year high while the Australian
dollar powered to peaks above $1.07 -- a level not seen since
the currency became free-floating in the early 1980's.
The euro pushed to 15-month peaks but has lagged the broader
move due to the ongoing worries about the euro zone crisis
although a solid auction of Spanish debt the previous day helped
provide some reassurance.
U.S. Treasury futures <TYv1> were slightly lower, with the
June futures on the benchmark 10-year down 4/32 in Asia.
* For Reuters Global Investing Blog, click on
http://blogs.reuters.com/globalinvesting
* For the MacroScope Blog, click on
http://blogs.reuters.com/macroscope
* For Hedge Fund Blog, click on
http://blogs.reuters.com/hedgehub
(Additional reporting by Antoni Slodowski in TOKYO; Editing by
Ramya Venugopal)
