* Order of the day: US stimulus, 'bad bank' plan, payrolls
* Australia central bank cuts GDP view but currency
resilient
* MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan stocks index up for second
week
* Toyota warns of bigger losses as crisis fallout worsens
(Updates prices, adds comments, European outlook)
By Kevin Plumberg
HONG KONG, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Asia stocks rose on Friday
ahead of a vote on a massive U.S. stimulus package, while the
yen edged up against the dollar, with U.S. employment data
likely to reflect a deep recession.
Major European stocks were expected to open as much as 0.9
percent higher, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street,
according to financial bookmakers. []
Most other currencies beside the dollar and U.S. Treasuries
were stuck in a narrow trading range, with the market's
attention focussed on the fate of stimulus measures and a "bad
bank" scheme to separate the toxic assets plaguing financial
institutions, which is set to be announced next week.
Economic data in most countries has overwhelmingly pointed
to severe weakness but investors would like to see the size and
scope of the next U.S. stimulus effort to determine how quickly
a recovery could take shape. The U.S. Senate is debating a $920
billion plan but it could shrink before being passed.
[]
"Expectations for some fresh development in the U.S.
economic measures next week, including the establishment of a
'bad bank' scheme, and a weaker yen are encouraging investors
to pick up stocks," said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, manager at SMBC
Friend Securities in Tokyo.
Japan's Nikkei share average <> rose 1.7 percent, with
Softbank Corp stock <9984.T> among the biggest boosts to the
index after the country's third-largest mobile phone operator
reported a 2 percent rise in quarterly profit and retained its
forecast for the year.
After close of trading hours, Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T>
warned its full-year loss would be three times what it expected
just six weeks ago as the world's biggest automaker struggles
to cut production fast enough to match plummeting sales.
[]
The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> climbed 1.2 percent, tacking on a second
consecutive week of gains.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng <> rose 2.3 percent, gapping
higher at the open, helped by gains in index heavyweights such
as HSBC <0005.HK> and China Mobile <0941.HK>.
UPSIDE FOR ASIAN STOCKS
Short-term movements in markets are notoriously difficult
to forecast, even without a global financial crisis. However,
Garry Evans, head of pan-Asian strategy with HSBC in Hong Kong,
said after a few more weeks of hard times, regional stocks
should rally for a couple months on improvements in the U.S.
economy and expectations of a second-half recovery.
Evans said though this will not be a start of a bull market
since the sword of under-capitalised banks, the effects of a
rapid slowdown in Asia and big budget deficits among other
things still hangs over investors.
"We are comfortable, then, with our view that, after all
these ups and downs, Asian equities will end the year close to
where they started it. But after the excitements of last year,
maybe dull is good," he said in a note.
The U.S. dollar slipped against the yen in cautious trade
before key jobs data that is expected to paint an even bleaker
picture of the U.S. labour market. []
The dollar was down 0.2 percent to 91 yen <JPY=> after at
one point rising above 92 yen to a one-month high overnight on
hopes the government rescue plan for banks might include
suspension of a key accounting rule, thawing investors'
aversion to risk.
The euro was at $1.2780 <EUR=>, down a touch.
The Australian dollar fought back from initial losses after
after the country's central bank slashed its growth forecasts
and paved the way for more interest rate cuts. []
The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was
steady at 2.91 percent <US10YT=RR>. U.S. yields, particularly
on longer-dated debt, have been rising quite steadily and this
week extended gains to retrace nearly a quarter of the 300
basis point decline between June 2007 and December 2008.
Japanese government bond futures <2JGBv1> fell to a
2-1/2-month low as equity markets rose.
Oil prices <CLc1> slipped 25 cents to $40.92 a barrel,
after climbing about 70 cents overnight on hopes for U.S.
stimulus measures to take shape sooner rather than later. As it
has for the last three weeks, the $40 level has been a floor
for prices.
