GLOBAL MARKETS-Dollar surges, Asia stocks slip after China data

                                
 * China growth, inflation quicken, more c.bank moves feared
                                
 * Dollar surges to four-month high against currency basket
                                
 * Euro falls to five-month low but recovers later
                                
 * Most Asian shares fall, China data caps gains in Japan
                                
 By Raju Gopalakrishnan
                                
 SINGAPORE, Jan 21 (Reuters) - The dollar surged to a
four-month high on Thursday and most Asian share markets fell
after China reported strong fourth quarter growth, reinforcing
fears that Beijing would take more measures to keep the economy
from overheating.
                                
 The dollar rose 0.19 percent against a basket of six major
currencies <.DXY> to its highest since September.
                                
 The euro, which has been soft for weeks over Greece's
fiscal woes, plunged but bounced back off $1.4070 <EUR=>, a key
chart support. It last traded at $1.4087, down 0.14 percent on
the day.
                                
 China's economy expanded by 10.7 percent between October
and December, compared with a year earlier, below market
expectations of 10.9 percent but up sharply from 9.1 percent in
the third quarter. [ID:nTOE60K011]
                                
 Worries that China may be moving towards slower growth
weighed on global markets on Wednesday after news that Chinese
authorities had instructed some major banks to curb lending
over the rest of this month after an early burst of credit.
[.N]
                                
 Some investors fear China's moves could impede a still-weak
global economic recovery and curb its insatiable demand for
commodities and other imported goods. But most economists agree
that gradual tightening moves by the Chinese central bank would
do little to rob the economy of its strong momentum.
                                
 After Thursday's batch of generally strong data, economists
said it was only a matter of time before Beijing tightened
monetary policy further as inflationary pressures mount.
                                
 "The overall macro picture is one of continued strength in
activity growth and rapidly rising inflation. We believe
further policy tightening measures over and beyond what has
already been implemented are needed in order control inflation
in the coming months," said Yu Song and Helen Qiao of Goldman
Sachs in a note.
                                
 The MSCI Asia-Pacific index excluding Japan eased 0.77
percent <.MIAPJ0000PUS>, while Thomson Reuters index of
regional shares <.TRXFLDAXPU> lost 0.80 percent.
                                
 Japan's Nikkei <.N225> was up around 0.4 percent with falls
in China-linked shares countered by gains in tech stocks.
                                
 "It's not anything specific, just putting together bits of
things -- recent brokerage upgrades of tech companies, U.S.
tech results, higher prices for chips," said Hiroaki Osakabe, a
fund manager at Chibagin Asset Management.
                                
 Tech shares also led the charge in South Korea with LG
Display <034220.KS>, the world's No. 2 LCD panel maker, and
Hynix Semiconductor <000660.KS> No. 2 memory chip maker,
surging on positive outlooks for the first quarter.
                                
 However, the overall KOSPI index <.KS11> was down 0.27
percent.
                                
 Shanghai shares <.SSEC> and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index
<.HSI> both fell on worries about China's future policy
actions.     "It does show that the economy has gone ahead of
steam and the government may be trying to rein it in," said
Howard Gorges, vice-chairman at South China Financial HOldings.
                                
 "If it continues to look too strong, the banks might have
another increase in the reserve requirement ratio. The markets
are expecting that to happen some time soon."
                                
 Copper, which is seen as an indicator of Chinese growth
because of its wide use in industry, fell nearly 1 percent in
Shanghai on the data. [nTOE60K03G]
                                
 "I think it's bad news for base metals, and copper in
particular. Fixed asset investment is lower, and inflation
higher, which basically means demand is down and inflation is
up," said a trader based in Singapore.
                                
 "Rate hiking and currency appreciation have to come
quicker."
                                
 In the bond market, Japanese government bonds held steady,
giving back earlier gains made in response to firmer U.S.
Treasuries, with the focus on the outcome of a 1.1 trillion yen
($12.06 billion) 20-year debt auction due at 0345 GMT.
[nTOE60K01H]
                                
 The yield on the 20-year bond <JP20YTN=JBTC> was unchanged
at 2.140 percent after hitting 2.135 percent. The benchmark
U.S. Treasury note yield <US10YT=RR> fell to a one-month trough
on Wednesday on a lower Wall Street and concerns over Greece's
fiscal troubles.
                                
 Gold <XAU=> and crude oil <CLc1> were little changed.
 (Editing by Kim Coghill)