* Most Asia share markets firm, cautious ahead of US job
data
* Better than expected U.S. retail figure buoy most markets
* Nikkei hits 5-wk closing low as financials weigh
* Aussie dollar supported by gold price rise
* China shares extend gains after Thursday's surge (Repeats
to more subscribers)
By Susan Fenton
HONG KONG, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Asian stock markets mostly
edged higher on Friday, underpinned by encouraging U.S. retail
sales but cautious ahead of a U.S. payrolls report, while the
Aussie dollar was supported by a spike in gold prices.
Chinese shares wobbled, but by midafternoon had extended
gains from Thursday's near 5 percent surge, which came after
reassuring remarks from a top securities regulator raised hopes
for policy support.
Major European stock futures <STXEc1> were up 0.5 percent,
while U.S. equity futures <SPc1> slipped 0.1 percent.
The dollar dipped against the yen <JPY=>, although at 92.62
yen it was still above this week's seven-week low of 91.94 as
the market was uncertain about how it would react to the
payrolls data.
Hopes that a long-awaited revival in U.S. consumer spending
has begun lent some support to Asian share markets, but gold
prices remained near $1,000 an ounce after an overnight rally
that indicated investors may be becoming more risk averse amid
a still uncertain global economic environment.
"There is a bit of de-risking ahead of the payrolls data
and the long weekend in the States, people are pretty happy to
take some money off the table and just wait and see what the
weekend brings," said Daniel Manley, a dealer at Burrell & Co.
Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher, in
remarks published during Asian trade, said the U.S. economy was
set for a long period of slow growth and that it was too early
to guess at the timing or pace of any U.S. interest rate rises
[].
"We are likely to see a prolonged period of sluggish
economic performance and uncomfortably high unemployment as
businesses reallocate capital and labour to fit the new
economic landscape," Fisher said.
The MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks traded outside Japan
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> was up 0.5 percent by mid-afternoon.
A rally in Asian shares has sputtered in recent weeks amid
fears that a global economic recovery could longer than
expected. But the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index is still up 47
percent since the start of the year and some markets, such as
Hong Kong, Korea and Shanghai, have recaptured levels seen
before the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers
last September.
Shanghai's main index <> rose 0.7 percent after
dipping into negative territory in morning trade. Signs of
market stability in China and the better-than-expected U.S.
retail sales data pushed up Hong Kong's Hang Seng index <>
0.6 percent.
HYNIX SLUMPS
Japan bucked the firmer regional trend as its
second-biggest brokerage Daiwa Securities <8601.T> fell 6.1
percent on news it plans to buy out Sumitomo Mitsui Financial
Group <8316.T>, the country's third-largest bank, from their
investment banking joint venture [].
Shares in electronics maker Toshiba Corp <6502.T> slid 2.3
percent on reports it will bid for the power distribution and
transmission equipment unit of French nuclear group Areva
<CEPFI.PA> in a deal that could cost it more than $5.4 billion
[].
The Nikkei index <> ended down 0.3 percent at a
five-week closing low, but exporters including electronics
parts maker Kyocera Corp <6971.T>, which rose 2.2 percent, were
supported by the U.S. retail sales data and Japanese capital
expenditure data for April-June, which suggested the worst of
the decline in capex spending may be over [].
The Aussie dollar <AUD=> was firm, trading at $0.8402 by
0602 GMT, slightly off an earlier high of $0.8407 in the wake
of gold's overnight rally.
Shares of Australian gold miners benefited from the higher
gold price, although Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index
<> shed most of its early gains to end up just 0.2 percent
as investors awaited the U.S. data.
Korean stocks <> dipped 0.3 percent, with Hynix
Semiconductor Inc <000660.KS>, the world's second-largest
memory chip maker, slumping 5.7 percent on a downgrade by
Daewoo Securities.
Commodities prices were firm, though. As gold prices
flirted with $1,000 an ounce, NYMEX crude oil <CLc1> edged up
to $68.23 a barrel, from just under $68 in late New York trade.
LME lead <MPB3> hit a 19-month high at $2,345 a tonne.
Traders attributed its strength to growing concern about lead
supplies from China, which is clamping down on pollution
following lead poisoining incidents [].
(To read a preview of the U.S. employment report, click on
[])
