* Dollar pressured as Fed signals more stimulus if needed
* Asian stock rally pauses, market awaits fresh impetus
* Oil, commodities cling on to gains
By Ian Chua
Dec 6 (Reuters) - The dollar was on the defensive on
Monday after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it was open to
injecting more funds into the economy, while investors took a
breather after having pushed Asian stocks to three-week highs.
Speaking on the 60 minutes television programme, Fed
Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank could end up
buying more than the $600 billion in U.S. government bonds it
has committed to purchase if the economy failed to respond or
unemployment stayed too high.
Bernanke's comments came after U.S. jobs data on Friday
showed a paltry 39,000 increase in non-farm payrolls and an
unexpected rise in the jobless rate to a seven-month high of
9.8 percent from 9.6 percent.
"The prospect of persistent quantitative policy measures
by the major economies is a powerful force in the market. It
is tending to overpower other key developments in the market,
such as a tighter policy settings in China," said Greg Gibbs,
strategist at RBS.
"It appears that the main underlying trends in the market
have been reinforced and funds will continue to flow strongly
towards Asia and commodities will remain well bid."
MSCI's gauge of Asian stocks excluding Japan
edged up 0.3 percent, having climbed nearly 4
percent last week. Japan's Nikkei average slipped 0.1
percent, with exporters, such as Canon Inc , under
pressure as the dollar wallowed near two-week lows against the
yen.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index was a touch firmer
and South Korea's KOSPI inched down 0.1 percent.
But investors snapped up shares in Africa-focused miner
Riversdale Mining , after global miner Rio Tinto
made a $3.5 billion bid approach. Riversdale shares
surged 12 percent.
The dollar eased 0.1 percent against a basket of major
currencies , having fallen 1.4 percent last week.
Against the yen, it stood at 82.82 yen , not far off a
two-week low of 82.51 yen set last Friday.
The selloff in the dollar helped drive the euro above
$1.34 for the first time since Nov. 24, well off the
low of $1.2964 plumbed last week.
But the single currency has since slipped back to $1.3381
on persistent worries that Ireland's debt crisis would spread
to other high deficit euro zone members such as Portugal and
Spain.
The IMF will urge euro zone governments on Monday to boost
the size of their rescue fund and recommend the European
Central Bank buy more bonds to prevent the bloc's debt crisis
from derailing economic recovery.
Higher metal prices helped underpin commodity currencies
such as the Australian dollar. The Aussie last traded
just above $0.99, highs not seen since Nov. 22.
Copper, which notched its biggest weekly gain in four
months on Friday, edged up 0.4 percent to $8,760 a tonne,
while U.S. crude <CLc1> rose 0.2 percent to $89.35 a barrel,
having reached a fresh 25-month high at $89.60.
(Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
