Asia slips as Wall Street cheer fizzles, kiwi slides

finance.yahoo.com

By Shinichi Saoshiro

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian stocks slipped on Thursday, giving back earlier gains as initial cheer from a rebound on Wall Street fizzled out, while the New Zealand dollar hit a one-year low after the central bank governor decried the currency's recent strength.

Spreadbetters expected a steady start for Europe, forecasting Britain's FTSE (.FTSE) to open virtually flat, and Germany's DAX (.GDAXI) and France's CAX (.FCHI) to both edge up 0.1 percent.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.4 percent after touching a four-month low.

Tokyo's Nikkei (.N225) retained earlier momentum and rose 1.1 percent, with investors encouraged bt=y the yen resuming its slide against the dollar.

Wall Street rebounded broadly overnight, buoyed by strong U.S. housing data and dovish statements from a top Federal Reserve official.

The New Zealand dollar hit a one-year low of $0.7986 (NZD=D4) after Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Graeme Wheeler repeated his warning that the exchange rate is unsustainable and at unjustified levels.

"The statement itself was another intervention threat. The Reserve Bank is saying that even down at these levels the kiwi is too high," said Imre Speizer, currency strategist at Westpac.

The kiwi had climbed to a three-year peak of $0.8839 in July, boosted by prospects of further rate hikes by the RBNZ.

The U.S. dollar, rejuvenated after benchmark U.S. Treasury yields rose for the first time in four days and as the euro slumped to fresh lows, edged closer to a six-year high versus the yen.

The dollar traded as high as 109.34 yen (JPY=), and a break above 109.46 would take the greenback to levels unseen since 2008.

The dollar index, a gauge of the greenback's strength against a basket of major currencies, hit a four-year high of 85.169 (.DXY).

The euro slumped to a fresh 14-month trough of 1.2762 (EUR=), retaining downward momentum after dropping overnight on poor German data and statements by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi indicating monetary policy would be kept loose for an extended period.

The Australian dollar fell to $0.8813 (AUD=D4), its lowest since early February, suffering collateral damage from the kiwi's sharp fall.

For immediate cues the financial markets are eyeing U.S. jobless claims and durable goods numbers due later in the day for potential impact on yields and currencies.

In a week filled with appearances by U.S. central bank officials, investors await Atlanta Fed president Dennis Lochart's speech due at 1730 GMT.

In commodities, Brent crude steadied near $97 a barrel after bouncing from its lowest in 26 months, but abundant supply continued to drag on prices. [O/R]

Brent (LCOc1) was down 21 cents at 96.74 a barrel.

Gold extended losses, reacting to stronger equities and robust U.S. economic data that curbed its safe-haven appeal, and the metal looked likely to fall back towards January's lows as the dollar index rallied to four-year highs.

Spot gold (XAU=) dipped 0.2 percent to $1,214.27 an ounce.

(Additional Reporting by Ian Chua, Naomi Tajitusu in Sydney and Wellington; Editing by Eric Meijer and Simon Cameron-Moore)