* Asian shares gain as governments act against downturn
* Yen, dollar, other safe-havens fall amid improved mood
* Oil edges higher day after steep falls
* G7 financial leaders to meet this weekend
(Adds European open, latest Asian prices)
By Rafael Nam
HONG KONG, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Asian shares reversed three
sessions of losses to gain on Friday on hopes that government
efforts worldwide, including talk of a U.S. subsidy for
mortgage payments, would soften the blow of the global
downturn.
European shares rose in early trading, led by financials on
news of the U.S. subsidy plan. The FTSEurofirst 300 <>
was up 1.7 percent and other major indexes were up a similar
amount.
News the U.S. government was hammering out a programme to
subsidise mortgages for homeowners before they fall into loan
arrears, first reported by Reuters, helped Wall Street stage a
late recovery that extended into gains in Asian markets.
[]
Those efforts came as the U.S. Congress prepares to vote on
Friday on the $789 billion economic stimulus bill
[] and Australia passed a A$42 billion ($27.4
billion) economic stimulus package. []
But optimism was tempered by the tough outlook facing the
global economy. Asian stock markets were marginally lower for
the week, and down about 5 percent for the year.
"The news about the U.S. mortgage payments plan has
temporarily spurred short-covering," said Takahiko Murai,
general manager of equities at Nozomi Securities.
"The bank and economic measures by the U.S. government so
far have lacked details and that is a problem. What the market
wants to know is how and by when the government will enact
measures that prove to be effective."
The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> advanced 2.4 percent as of 0830 GMT, following
a 3.5 percent decline over the previous three sessions.
After a tough 2008, global markets have yet to convincingly
recover amid doubts about the economic outlook, despite
multi-pronged efforts by policy makers worldwide that have
included tax cuts and lower interest rates.
The occasional signs of hope -- such as an unexpected
rebound in sales at U.S. retailers in January -- have been
tempered by many other indicators of just how tough things are
getting with the world's main engines of growth mired in
recession.
Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> on Thursday offered buyouts to
some 18,000 U.S. workers and said it would cut pay for
executives and blue-collar workers in its North American
manufacturing operations in response to plunging auto sales.
[]
The global financial sector remains another concern as the
United States finalises a new bank rescue plan that would put
$2 trillion to work mopping up bad assets and restoring credit.
DBS Group <DBSM.SI>, Southeast Asia's biggest bank, posted
on Friday a bigger-than-expected 40 percent drop in quarterly
profit, marking its worst results in three years. That follows
poor results at South Korean lenders including Kookmin Bank,
part of KB Financial Group <105560.KS>.[]
G7 MEETING
On Friday at least, investors had a reprieve.
Japan's Nikkei <> advanced 1 percent. Among other
major indexes, the biggest gains were posted in Shanghai
<>, Hong Kong <>, Taiwan <> and India <>,
which advanced 2-3 percent.
Shares in South Korea <>, Australia <>, Singapore
<.FTSTI> gained at least 1 percent.
The improved mood among global investors comes ahead of
this weekend's G7 meeting of financial leaders, though little
in terms of actual policy is expected to emerge. []
Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa on Friday joined a
growing call for G7 finance heads to take steps this weekend to
rescue the worsening global economy. []
"The world economy is in a very severe situation at the
moment, so I want (the G7) to frankly exchange views on such
economic conditions and the outlook, and discuss policy steps
to help stabilise the world economy," Shirakawa told a media
conference.
U.S. crude futures <CLc1> advanced 47 cents to $34.45 a
barrel, after dropping 5.5 percent on Thursday to settle at its
lowest point in nearly two months due to concerns over swelling
crude stocks in the United States.
Assets that had previously benefited from safe-haven bids
retreated, with both the dollar and yen falling.
The euro rose 0.4 percent to $1.2914 <EUR=> and climbed 0.4
percent to 117.53 yen <EURJPY=R>.
The passage of a stimulus package in Australia, helped the
Aussie <AUD=> advance to $0.6572 from the day's low of $0.6523.
That was still a touch below $0.6584 seen late on Thursday.
Japanese government bonds were little changed. March
10-year futures rose 0.06 point to 139.36 <2JGBv1> after
dipping to an intraday low of 139.18. The contract jumped
nearly a full point on Thursday.
The benchmark JGB 10-year yield <JP10YTN=JBTC> was
unchanged at 1.255 percent, having brushed a two-week low of
1.250 percent on Thursday.
