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* Asian stocks drift higher, exporters underpin Nikkei
* Dollar steadies, yen slips as Japan FX policy eyed
By Eric Burroughs
HONG KONG, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Asian stocks drifted back
near one-year highs on Tuesday as investors looked past a trade
spat between the United States and China, with exporter shares
in Japan getting a lift as the yen's surge relented.
The Nikkei average <> edged up 0.1 percent as
companies such as Canon Inc <7751.T> bounced back from a slide
sparked by the yen's jump to a seven-month high against the
dollar, which took the Japanese currency into territory seen as
damaging to exporter earnings.
The yen <JPY=> slipped back to more than 91 per dollar,
providing some relief to investors worried that sustained gains
would prove a serious obstacle to Japan Inc's gradual recovery
this year.
While officials in the outgoing Japanese government voiced
concern about the yen's rise, the former finance minister
tipped to again take the helm of the ministry -- Hirohisa Fujii
-- has said Japan should not intervene in markets.
[]
"Market participants speculate Fujii may be more tolerant
of a stronger yen and reluctant about intervening in the forex
market," said Makoto Yamashita, chief Japan interest rate
strategist at Deutsche Securities in Tokyo.
Japan has racked up foreign reserves totalling more than $1
trillion, second only to China's, from its previous bouts of
yen-selling intervention. But Japan has stayed out of the
market since 2004, even during last year's violent yen surge as
leveraged carry trades were unwound.
Other Asian indexes also posted slight gains. Seoul's KOSPI
<> rose 0.8 percent, with financial shares such as Shinhan
Financial Group <055550.KS> leading gains.
The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares <.MIAPJ0000PUS> was
up 0.4 percent, recouping some of the previous day's losses and
hovering just below a one-year peak struck last week. For the
year, the MSCI benchmark for Asia is still up about 53 percent.
On Monday, the U.S. S&P 500 <.SPX> edged up 0.6 percent and
reached its highest levels of 2009 after a slew of merger
activity suggested big investors still see value in the market
following this year's rebound.
Optimism about potential deals overshadowed concerns about
trade friction between the United States and China after
Washington imposed special duties on Chinese tyre imports.
White House economic adviser Larry Summers said late on
Monday that the United States acted responsibly in slapping
duties on Chinese tyres after trying to negotiate a settlement
with Beijing. []
The battered U.S. dollar was little changed in Asia,
holding off a one-year low touched on Friday. The dollar index
<.DXY>, a gauge of its performance against six major
currencies, was steady at 76.691.
The dollar edged up 0.3 percent against the yen to 91.13
yen <JPY=>, pulling up from the seven-month low of 90.18 yen
hit on Monday. The euro dipped 0.1 percent to $1.4615 <EUR=>
but hovered near a nine-month high.
The Australian dollar slipped after the country's central
bank felt the economy was substantially stronger than expected
at this month's policy meeting but decided there was enough
uncertainty over the outlook to argue against a rate hike,
according to meeting minutes. []
The Aussie dipped 0.2 percent to $0.8604 <AUD=D4>, just
below a one-year high.
Safe-haven government bonds lost ground as stock markets
stabilised. The benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond
yield <JP10YTN=JBTC> edged up 1.5 basis points to 1.305
percent, holding in a range between 1.285 percent and 1.355
percent over the past few weeks.
