(Repeats to wider audience, with no changes to text)
* Asia stocks at 2-year low
* Oil up 6.5 pct in week on Russia tensions
* Measures of risk taking are stable
* Asia's bear market could be nearing end - HSBC
By Kevin Plumberg
HONG KONG, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Asian stocks slipped to a
two-year low on Friday, falling for a fourth straight week, as
a surge in oil prices to above $121 knocked the U.S. dollar and
the spiralling financial crisis showed no signs of ending.
Crude prices have been driven up 6.5 percent this week on
escalating tensions between the United States and Russia, the
world's second-largest oil exporter. Russia's military
intervention in Georgia has disrupted crude transit, supporting
prices.
A rise in commodity prices cut short a two-week rally in
the U.S. dollar, though analysts said the currency's 1.3
percent decline this week was understandable given its stellar
rise recently and that an upward trend is still intact.
Investor anxiety about the financial sector meanwhile
lingered.
Freddie Mac <FRE.N>, one of the top U.S. mortgage finance
companies, is talking with private-equity and other investors
about buying some shares but faces fears that a government
bailout would wipe out any investment, The Wall Street Journal
said.
Japan's Nikkei share average <> hit a five-month low,
hurt by shares of exporters such as electric parts maker
Kyocera Corp <6971.T> and Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T>.
"The trading environment is worse than yesterday as the yen
became stronger and oil prices rose sharply," said Yoshinori
Nagano, chief strategist at Daiwa Asset Management. "Lingering
worries about the global economy, including Japan, are also
weighing on the market."
The MSCI pan-Asia stock index <.MIAS00000PUS> was down 0.3
percent, after hitting a two-year low in early trade. The
Asia-Pacific ex-Japan index <.MIAPJ0000PUS> edged up 0.2
percent though was off 2.7 percent on the week.
South Korea's KOSPI <> tumbled about 2 percent to a
16-month low, with shares of the country's top retail lender
leading the index lower. Hong Kong's markets were shut because
of a typhoon.
THE END IS NEAR?
Some analysts said Asian markets were getting closer to a
bottom, assuming that the U.S. recession began when regional
markets peaked in November 2007.
"We think the start of the recession will be pinned down to
November last year -- which means that, as long as this is just
a normal cyclical recession, the bottom for stocks could come
very soon," said Garry Evans, Asia-Pacific equity strategist
with HSBC in Hong Kong.
Over the last 50 years, U.S. recessions lasted between six
and 16 months. U.S. stocks on average bottomed four months
before the economy would level out and Asia stocks about a
month later, Evans said in a research note.
Measures of risk taking among investors were somewhat
stable compared with earlier equity market sell-offs that
coincided with massive retreats in willingness to take risks
for higher returns.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility index <.VIX>,
often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, slipped to a
2-1/2-month low on Thursday.
The so-called TED spread of 3-month LIBOR interbank
borrowing rates over the 3-month U.S. Treasury bill yield,
which usually increases in times of distress, was at 111 basis
points, 33 basis points below where it was about a month ago.
The euro was down 0.1 percent at $1.4876 <EUR=> though now
stood more than 2 cents above a six-month low of $1.4630
touched on Tuesday.
Against the yen, the dollar edged up 0.2 percent to 108.62
yen <JPY=>, though it was about 2 yen below a seven-month high
of 110.67 yen hit last week.
Gold was trading at above $834 an ounce <XAU=> in the spot
market, near Thursday's 1-
