* Brunt crude hits a 2-1/2 year high, U.S. crude stays near
$100
* Asian stocks extend fall, Nikkei plumbs three-week low
* Dollar broadly weaker, hits record low vs Swiss franc
(Updates prices)
By Ian Chua
SYDNEY, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Unrest in Libya and the threat of
contagion to other oil producing countries in the region drove
Brent crude to a 29-month high above $113 on Thursday, fuelling
worries about slower global growth and knocking Asian shares
lower.
Copper hovered near a one-month low and the dollar stayed on
the back foot amid worries that the U.S. economy would be
especially vulnerable to high oil prices, given its reliance on
consumer spending to drive growth.
World leaders condemned Muammar Gaddafi's bloody crackdown
on a revolt that has split Libya, but took little action to halt
the bloodshed from the latest upheaval reshaping the Arab world.
.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 1.2 percent, while
stocks elsewhere in Asia shed 0.6 percent,
having earlier risen as much as 0.4 percent.
"Investors knew all along that a correction was on its way
after the rally, and the turmoil in Libya gave the market a good
opportunity to enter one," Makoto Kikuchi, CEO at Myojo Asset
Management Japan, said about Tokyo stocks.
London Brent crude jumped $2.55 to as high as
$113.80 a barrel, for the first time since September 2008,
having gained nearly 10 percent in the past four sessions. U.S.
crude last traded at around $99 a barrel, a whisker away
from Wednesday's high of $100.
"I see more upside on Brent for the moment with prices
likely to hit $120 by the end of March," said Ken Hasegawa, a
commodity derivatives manager at Newedge brokerage in Tokyo.
Other Asian stock markets showed signs of stabilising after
two straight sessions of losses, but the general mood remained
one of caution as investors worry that higher energy prices will
hurt corporate profits and add to global inflationary pressures.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.8 percent,
South Korea's KOSPI slipped 0.6 percent. Hong Kong's
Hang Seng was little changed and China's Shanghai
Composite Index edged up 0.2 percent.
Modest gains in U.S. stock index futures suggested a
steadier start on Wall Street after two sessions of falls.
Gold , a traditional safe haven in times of trouble,
traded at around $1,410 an ounce, not far from a record high
around $1,430 set in December.
Copper erased early gains to be down 0.2 percent at
$9,407 a tonne, near a one-month low of $9,365 plumbed on
Wednesday.
DOLLAR STRUGGLES
The dollar index , which tracks its performance
against a basket of major currencies, shed 0.2 percent to
77.271.
Against the Swiss franc, the dollar fell to a record low at
around 0.9275 franc , surpassing the previous trough of
0.9301 set at the end of the year.
Investors will also be eyeing a slew of U.S. data due later
in the day, including retail sales and home sales, for clues on
the pace of growth in the economy.
The euro held firm at $1.3762 , coming within easy
reach of its Feb. 2 peak of $1.3862, helped also by recent
hawkish comments on inflation by European Central Bank
officials.
This has raised expectations the ECB will hike interest
rates before the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Meanwhile, the New Zealand dollar stayed near
two-month lows below $0.7500, with markets now pricing in an 88
percent chance that the next rate move will be a 25 basis point
cut .
The move followed the deadly earthquake that hit the
country's second biggest city of Christchurch on Tuesday.
(Additional reporting by Antoni Slodkowski, Ayai Tomisawa,
Hideyuki Sano in Tokyo and Luke Pachymuthu in Singapore; Editing
by Yoko Nishikawa & Ramya Venugopal)
