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By Tom Miles
HONG KONG, April 24 (Reuters) - Chinese share prices leapt
and the dollar enjoyed a modest rebound on Thursday, giving
Asian stocks a brief lift ahead of a slew of company earnings
reports.
The firmer dollar helped depress prices for dollar-quoted
commodities such as gold and oil, but was not able to hold back
the surging price of rice, an Asian staple at risk of running
low and fuelling inflation.
The early Chinese boost came from a two-thirds cut in share
trading tax, seen as a government attempt to halt a sharp slide
on the Shanghai Composite Index <> which had plummeted
more than 50 percent since last October.
The boon for short-term traders boosted the index by 9.3
percent by 0650 GMT, but some warned of celebrating too early.
"Today's market is full of pent-up exuberance. But
eventually it's fundamentals, not government policies, that
decide share prices," said Chen Ge, manager at Fullgoal Fund
Management.
"So before we see signs of an improving economy, I don't
think the rally will become another bull run. Further sharp
rises will be capped by the growing willingness of
institutional shareholders to take profits."
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index <> gained 1.6 percent, not
enough to keep pace with the galloping Shanghai market. The gap
<.HSCAHPI> between Shanghai and Hong Kong valuations, which had
been shrinking fast, widened 3.5 percent.
Shanghai's surge also briefly added some optimism to
Japan's Nikkei average <>, but nervousness as big Japanese
companies report their earnings pushed it to close down 0.3
percent, while Asian shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> were
up 0.4 percent.
European shares are expected to fall in an earnings-packed
day, with June Euro Stoxx50 futures <STXEM8> and June DAX
futures <FDXM8> both down 0.4 percent.
EARNINGS DELUGE
European bellwethers AstraZeneca <AZN.L>, Bayer <BAYG.DE>,
Peugeot <PEUP.PA> and Fiat <FIA.MI> deliver results on
Thursday, yet the focus in early trade at least will likely
centre on Credit Suisse <CSGN.VX>, which reported 5.3 billion
Swiss francs ($5.26 billion) of credit-related writedowns in
the first quarter, causing a bigger-than-expected loss.
JFE Holdings Inc <5411.T>, the world's third-largest
steelmaker, broke the ice on Japan's earnings season with a 2.1
percent drop in profit and said it was not yet ready to give a
forecast for the year as it was still in talks to raise prices.
JFE's shares fell 2.6 percent.
Like steel companies, which face an uphill struggle to pass
on a two-thirds rise in iron ore prices and even bigger hike in
coal costs, oil refiners are under pressure from crude prices.
Australian refiner Caltex Australia Ltd <CTX.AX> fell 7
percent after saying it could cut output if margins fell below
the cost of running its plants.
But shares in suppliers of oil and metals such as BHP
Billiton <BHP.AX> also slipped as the resurgent dollar pulled
back prices for metals and oil, pulling the resource-rich
Sydney market <> down 1.2 percent.
U.S. crude oil <CLc1> fell 25 cents to $118.05 a barrel,
while gold <XAU=>, which has this year broadly mirrored the
Nikkei's reaction to movements in the dollar-yen rate, sat just
$4 above the $900 an ounce mark, well shy of a $1,000 peak hit
last month.
The dollar traded at 103.64 yen <JPY=> by 0605 GMT while
the euro <EUR=> held around $1.586 after Wednesday's sharp drop
as investors kept watch for German corporate sentiment data
that could throw light on the prospects for the euro zone
economy.
The yen gained as investors gave up expectations of a Bank
of Japan interest cut, a shift of mood that also hit government
bonds. June 10-year futures <2JGBv1> tumbled 0.77 points to
137.05, equalling this year's lowest closing yield.
WILD RICE
The latest commodity to race to a record was rice, the
world's second-biggest food grain crop, which has hit
successive peaks due to worries about supply shortages that
have led to political unrest and export restrictions.
Chicago Board of Trade July rough rice futures <RRN8>
surged to a record $25.070 per hundredweight after Brazil
suspended rice exports to safeguard domestic supplies and keep
prices stable, following similar moves by India and Vietnam.
Spot CBOT rice prices are up about 80 percent so far this
year. In the latest sign that fears of a rice shortage are
rippling around the world, Wal-Mart Stores Inc's <WMT.N> Sam's
Club warehouse said on Wednesday it was limiting sales of
several types of rice.
(Additional reporting by Samuel Shen in SHANGHAI, Alison Leung
in HONG KONG, Chikafumi Hodo and Satomi Noguchi in TOKYO;
Editing by Anshuman Daga)
