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By Louise Heavens
SINGAPORE, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Fresh evidence that the U.S.
economy is in recession sent Asian stocks lower on Friday, with
Tokyo shedding almost 2 percent as investors took shelter in
the relative safety of government debt.
Concern that the world's top economy was seriously flagging
dragged crude oil prices further from a record high above $101
a barrel and weighed shares in energy companies, such as
Australia's Woodside Petroleum <WPL.AX>.
Attention remained fixed on the U.S. economy after the
weakestreading on mid-Atlantic manufacturing since 2001
provided yet more evidencethe U.S. economy was in recession.
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"People have just gone into the fear mode," said Juliana
Roadley, market analyst at CommSec in Sydney.
"The data coming out is a lot worse than people had
expected. There is a lot of research to be done over the next
few months on the mortgage area and that's worrisome as well."
Japan's benchmark Nikkei <> shed 1.9 percent, handing
back most of Thursday's gain, while MSCI's index of other Asian
stocks <.MIAPJ0000PUS> fell 1 percent by 0223 GMT.
For months investors have feared that the United States is
in or is sliding into recession and any equity rally has
quickly been sapped by bad news, often that another big bank
has announced a credit-related writedown.
Only this week Credit Suisse <CSGN.VX> revealed a $2.85
billion writedown and Societe Generale <SOGN.PA>, rocked by a
huge rogue trading scandal, said there may be more to come.
Stock markets across Asia fell, with Australia's benchmark
<>, Shanghai's Composite <> and South Korea's main
index <> all losing more than 1 percent.
CHOPPY AHEAD
"It's meaningless to debate whether a recession is already
in the United States or not," said Lee Kyung-soo, an analyst at
Daewoo Securities in South Korea.
"The third quarter of 2008 could mark the start of a
recovery and stock markets may start reflecting that
expectation sometime in the second quarter. Before that, a
cycle of rises and falls will likely continue."
Oil kept falling after dropping more than $1 the session
before as data showing growing stockpiles added to concerns
about demand from a weaker United States.
U.S. crude for April delivery <CLc1> fell 33 cents to
$97.90 a barrel, having shed around a dollar and a half in New
York trade.
Precious metals dipped slightly, some having hit record
highs this week. Gold <XAU=> was trading at around $943 an
ounce.
With the weak U.S. data bolstering the view that the
Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again, the dollar
hovered near a two-week low against the euro <EUR=> at $1.484.
The dollar has been hit the prospect of lower rates, which
would erode the currency's appeal to investors seeking high
yields.
In the Japanese bond market March 10-year JGB futures
<2JGBv1>, rose 0.47 point. The 10-year yield fell 4 basis
points to 1.445 percent <JP10YTN=JBTC>.
(Additional reporting by Geraldine Chua in Sydney and Kim
So-young in Seoul; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
