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(Adds European outlook, updates prices)
By Tom Miles
HONG KONG, May 2 (Reuters) - Asian stocks jumped on Friday
as faith in the U.S. economy gathered steam after a rise on
Wall Street, gains in the dollar and another fall in oil
prices.
Surprisingly strong U.S. personal spending and
manufacturing data for March lent support to the dollar's
advance, which in turn boosted Asian exporters and banks hoping
to put the credit crisis behind them.
Increased confidence in the economic outlook and the equity
market gains weighed on safe-haven assets such as Japanese
government bonds, which tumbled more than a full-point before
trimming losses.
Investors' attention is now turned to U.S. nonfarm payrolls
data due at 1230 GMT for clues about whether the U.S. Federal
Reserve might be tempted to cut interest rates again soon.
Financial bookmakers expected Britain's FTSE 100 <> to
open up 39 to 45 points, or as much as 0.7 percent, Germany's
DAX <> to rise 47 to 52 points, or as much as 0.7
percent, and France's CAC-40 <> to trade 49 to 56 points
higher, or as much as 1.1 percent.
The growing optimism lifted Japan's Nikkei average <>
2.05 percent to 14,049.26 points, extending a rally that has
wiped out almost all its losses since mid-January. Shares
across the rest of Asia <.MIAPJ0000PUS> gained 1.5 percent.
"Sentiment about the U.S. economy is brightening a bit and
stocks appear to be rising on long-term hopes about this, even
though there is still some concern about the jobs data due out
later today," said Yumi Nishimura, manager at Daiwa Securities
SMBC.
"Some profit-taking is emerging above 14,000 but there's no
sense of significant selling."
FEAR RECEDES
Global stock markets have gained from the rebound in the
dollar and slump in oil prices, which helped push the Dow Jones
index <> up 1.5 percent on Thursday and knocked the CBOE
Volatility Index <.VIX>, a measure of fear in the U.S. equity
market, down 9.2 percent to its lowest this year.
"There is more confidence in the market and it may be the
case for the next couple of days," said Robert Hook, portfolio
manager at SG Hiscock & Co in Australia.
"In the short term, everyone's taking a more positive view
but whether they are taking out their party hats yet, I'm not
sure."
The dollar was trading around 104.7 yen <JPY=> and held its
ground against the euro <EUR=>, which fell below $1.55 for the
first time in five weeks on Thursday. The euro was trading at
$1.5456 by 0614 GMT.
The next milestone in the long road out of the credit
crisis will be the U.S. employment data, which is expected to
show jobs were shed for a fourth straight month in April, with
economists polled by Reuters projecting 80,000 jobs lost, the
same as in March.
"To bring the dollar lower, we need a very weak figure of
more than 100,000" jobs lost, said Masafumi Yamamoto, head of
FX strategy for Japan at Royal Bank of Scotland. "The risk is
that better-than-expected figures cause the dollar to rally
further."
But Yamamoto said investors may be getting overly confident
that the worst of the credit crisis stemming from defaults on
the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis has passed.
GOLD, BONDS AND OIL
With confidence seeping back into equities and the dollar,
safe-haven assets such as gold and government bonds lost some
of their appeal. Gold <XAU=> hovered at a four-month low around
$850 an ounce.
"The trend is clearly downward. Sentiment deteriorated
further after slipping below the psychological level of $850,"
said Tatsuo Kageyama, analyst at Kanetsu Asset Management.
Japanese government bonds pulled back after a two-day
rally, with futures slumping more than a full point before
edging back. June futures fell 0.65 point to 135.75 <2JGBv1> in
subdued trade.
Many Japanese market players were away for Japan's Golden
Week holidays, which will close Tokyo's markets on Monday and
Tuesday, but investors elsewhere flooded back after a holiday.
The dollar's fightback has also helped quicken the slide in
oil prices from last week's record high close to $120 a barrel.
The U.S. light crude <CLc1> slipped in Asian trade, down 62
cents at $111.90, after supply concerns eased and U.S. data
showed the world's top consumer's appetite for fuel waning.
Analysts said a strengthening U.S. dollar remains the main
downside risk for oil prices, which could fall to low $100
levels a barrel should the dollar gain more ground.
(Additional reporting by in SYDNEY, Eric Burroughs in TOKYO,
in SINGAPORE, in SEOUL; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
