By Jacqueline Wong
SINGAPORE, April 18 (Reuters) - The dollar steadied but
held on to recent gains on Friday, helped by growing confidence
about the outlook for the troubled U.S. financial sector, while
Asian shares mostly fell ahead of earnings from Citigroup
<C.N>, the biggest U.S. bank.
Financial spread betters in London expect Britain's FTSE
100 index <> to open 12 to 15 points higher, Germany's DAX
<> to open 32 to 42 points up and France's CAC-40 <>
to kick off 25 to 35 points higher.
China's main stock market <> tumbled more than 4
percent as PetroChina <601857.SS>, the biggest component of the
index, slid below its IPO price for the first time in Shanghai.
Commodities remained in focus amid global shortages, with
rice prices gaining almost 4 percent to a new record, while
gold and oil also climbed.
The dollar rose on Thursday partly due to relief that U.S.
corporate earnings this week were generally within
expectations, offering some relief from the credit crisis, and
that recent sharp gains in the euro were seen as undesirable.
"Investors are taking more risks, selling the yen," said
Hiroshi Yoshida, a forex trader at Shinkin Central Bank. "It's
a little like what we saw in the heyday of carry trades before
the subprime woes rattled financial markets."
In carry trades, market players use low-yielding currencies
such as the yen to finance buying of assets offering higher
returns elsewhere.
The dollar steadied around 102.40 yen <JPY=>, just below a
one-month high of 102.95 yen hit in early April and having
gained close to 1 yen on Thursday.
The euro was little changed at $1.5905 <EUR=>, having
retreated from a record high of $1.5985 hit on electronic
trading platform EBS on Thursday.
The euro had soared to just shy of $1.60 before retreating
when Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg's prime minister and
chairman of monthly meetings between euro zone finance
ministers and the European Central Bank, complained about the
currency's strength against the dollar.
SHARES EYE CITIGROUP
Japan's Nikkei average <> ended 0.6 percent higher, up
for the fourth day running, with exporters such as Canon Inc
<7751.T> advancing on a softer yen and receding worries about
U.S. corporate profits.
By 0620 GMT, the MSCI's measure of other Asia Pacific
stocks outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> fell 0.5 percent, bringing
year-to-date losses to nearly 11 percent.
Asian share markets had earlier found support after Merrill
Lynch & Co <MER.N> reported on Thursday write-downs of $6.5
billion, in line with analysts' expectations. But investors
were also cautious ahead of Citi's results due later on Friday.
Analysts on average expect Citi to post a quarterly loss
close to $5 billion.
Seoul shares <> rose 0.2 percent, Taiwan <> fell
0.2 percent and Singapore <.FTSTI> posted losses of 0.3
percent.
Australian shares <> declined 1.6 percent, dragged
down by financial stocks and Brambles Ltd <BXB.AX>, the world's
top pallet supplier, which fell on worries of a possible loss
of business from top retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc <WMT.N>.
The Shanghai Composite Index <> dropped as
PetroChina's shares <.601857.SS> shed 5 percent, under pressure
from investor concerns that high crude prices will cause losses
at its refineries.
U.S. May crude <CLc1> traded up 16 cents at $115.02 a
barrel by 0630 GMT, just shy of its record high of $115.54 as
investors fretted over gasoline supplies ahead of the U.S.
summer driving season.
Gold recouped some of the previous day's losses attributed
to profit-taking after the metal's rise to a three-week high
above $950. Spot gold <XAU=> was at around $944 per ounce,
compared with late New York levels of $939.
Elsewhere, rice prices <RRN8> surged almost 4 percent to a
record high of $24.550 a hundredweight as panic buying
continued amid a global shortage. They are also following
strong gains by wheat prices in the past 10 months.
(Editing by Neil Fullick)
