RPT-GLOBAL MARKETS-Oil fall boosts shares, China ups fuel prices

                                
 (Repeats to additional subscribers with no change to text)
                                
 * Crude weak, Chinese demand may drop after fuel price rise
                                
 * Chinese shares jump, led by refiners
                                
 * Asian shares mostly higher
                                
 By Anshuman Daga
                                
 SINGAPORE, June 20 (Reuters) - Oil steadied on Friday after
falling sharply on a big fuel price rise in China, which could
depress demand for crude there, but Asian stocks benefited from
the prospect of lower costs for firms.
                                
 The dollar held steady against the yen, hovering within
sight of a four-month high after rising the previous day due to
the drop in oil prices.
                                
 Chinese stocks <.SSEC> stood out, jumping 6 percent, with
heavyweight refiners leading gains [.SS]. Sinopec <600028.SS>
and PetroChina <601857.SS> both rose 6 percent as higher
gasoline prices were expected to boost their profit margins.
                                
 U.S. July crude <CLc1> fell nearly $5 on Thursday after the
fuel price announcement late in the day in China, settling at
$131.93 a barrel. In Asian trading on Friday it went as low as
$131.19 before steadying around $132.
                                
 Soaring oil prices this year have fanned worries about
inflation and global economic growth.
                                
 "Allowing an increase in the controlled fuel prices in
China may temper growth in fuel demand in China, helping
moderate demand-based pressure on oil prices," David Moore, an
analyst with Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said in a note.
                                
 China raised retail gasoline and diesel prices by up to 18
percent on Thursday to temper demand, at the risk of stoking
domestic anger over inflation, already at a decade high.
[ID:nSP271754]
                                
 It joined a long list of Asian countries, including
Indonesia and India, that have bowed to the pressure of record
high oil prices by scaling back subsidies and raising fuel
prices.
                                
 STOCKS GAIN
                                
 The MSCI index of stocks in the Asia-Pacific region outside
of Japan <.MSCJIAPJ> rose 0.6 percent on Friday, paring the
previous session's losses, but the index is still down 15
percent so far this year.
                                
 Hong Kong <.HSI> jumped 2.3 percent, South Korea's KOSPI
<.KS11> added 0.1 percent and Singapore's Straits Times Index
<.FTSTI> rose 1 percent.
                                
 But the picture was still gloomy in Japan where the Nikkei
share average <.N225> fell 0.9 percent, dented by Inpex
Holdings and other oil-related shares, which tracked lower oil
prices. The Nikkei extended the previous session's 2.2 percent
decline.
                                
 U.S. stocks ended higher on Thursday on hopes falling crude
prices would ease inflationary pressures and support consumer
spending [.N].
                                
 However, in a report that underscored the economy's
weakness, output in U.S. Mid-Atlantic factories pulled back for
the seventh straight month as costs shot up to a 28-year high.
                                
 The dollar stood at 108.08 yen <JPY=> on Friday, steady
from late U.S. trading on Thursday and close to a four-month
high of 108.59 yen hit on trading platform EBS on Monday.
                                
 The euro was little changed at $1.5495 <EUR=> and steady
against sterling at 78.54 pence <EURGBP=>.
                                
 Gold <XAU=> fell to $896.70/897.70 an ounce from
$902.95/904.35 late in New York on Thursday, when it jumped as
high as $907.90, its strongest level in more than a week.
 (Additional reporting by Chua Baizhen; Editing by Alan
Raybould)