* Asia shares stall at 15-month highs despite tame U.S.
rates
* Dollar stuck near 15-month lows, downtrend seen intact
* Gold off record high but supported by weak dollar
By Yoo Choonsik
SINGAPORE, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Asian shares, gold and oil
eased on Tuesday as investors locked in recent gains while
keeping an eye on the ailing dollar, which was pinned near
15-month lows on expectations that U.S. interest rates will
stay extremely low for some time.
The dollar edged up against a basket of major
trading-partner currencies <.DXY> but its downtrend was seen as
intact after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said tight
credit and a weak job market would weigh on a U.S. economic
recovery.
Leading European stock indexes also looked set to fall on
Tuesday, according to bookmakers, while U.S. equity futures
<SPc1> were down 0.3 percent.
Markets showed little reaction to a summit between U.S.
President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao in
Beijing. The leaders said they would work to ease trade and
economic frictions between the two giants but appeared to break
no new ground on the contentious issue of the value of the
yuan. []
Obama nudged Hu to allow the yuan currency <CNY=CFXS> to
appreciate but the Chinese leader had no public comment on
either the yuan or the dollar.
Asian stock markets surrendered early gains, with the yen's
strength against the dollar weighing on shares of Japanese
exporters and offsetting gains in commodities-linked shares
after a surge in oil and gold prices overnight.
The Nikkei average <> fell 0.6 percent, while the MSCI
index of Asia Pacific stocks traded outside Japan
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> slipped half a percent after earlier hitting
its highest level since late July last year. Analysts said some
investors were taking profits from a more than 8 percent spurt
in the Asia ex-Japan index over the past two weeks.
A global equities rally is showing signs of losing steam as
it extends into a ninth month, though analysts are divided over
whether stocks will consolidate around current levels before
pushing higher again or suffer a correction.
Investors are growing cautious about the prospect for
further significant gains amid forecasts for only a sluggish
economic recovery next year.
"There is view out there that the market has run ahead of
itself a little bit," Markus Mueller, a director with
stockbroker Reynolds & Co. in Sydney, said of the stock rally.
Bernanke's remarks that the Fed would need to keep rates
exceptionally low for some time and better-than-expected U.S.
retail sales data had fueled broad gains on Wall Street
overnight, with the Dow Jones industrial average <> rising
1.3 percent. []
Bernanke acknowledged in a speech that the dollar's slump
was raising some prices but said other factors restraining
inflation were winning the day, helping reinforce the market's
already benign view toward U.S. rates. []
WEAK DOLLAR SUPPORTS COMMODITIES
Gold <XAU=> eased off record highs set on Monday and
hovered above $1,135 an ounce while U.S. crude futures <CLc1>
slipped after a more than 3 percent jump in the prior session,
but the outlook remained firm with the weak U.S. dollar lending
support for these alternative assets.
"For now, (investors) would rather book profits than chase
prices higher," said Kazuhiko Saito, chief analyst at Fujitomi
Co in Tokyo, referring to the gold prices approaching a
resistance level around $1,150 per ounce.
Spot gold prices have surged some 29 percent so far this
year, buoyed by the slumping dollar and fears of inflation.
"There is also caution about heightening volatility next
week when Tokyo and U.S. markets will be closed and trading
volume will drop," he added.
(Additional reporting by Denny Thomas in SYDNEY and Chikako
Mogi in TOKYO; Editing by Kim Coghill)
