* U.S. dollar hits 3-year low, charts point to record low
* Asian stocks at 3-year high as emerging markets back in
favour
* Weak dlr pushes Gold to fresh record above $1500, oil
holds $124
* Korea's Hynix, KOSPI at record highs as Apple crushes
forecasts
* Aussie up 1.8 on week, top performing G10 currency
(Adds details, updates prices)
By Vikram Subhedar
HONG KONG, April 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar slid to a
three-year low against a basket of major currencies on Thursday,
a move which could see it test record lows, while Asian stocks
jumped as investors scrambled for higher-yielding assets,
particularly in emerging markets.
European stocks looked set to rise for the third straight
session, following Asia higher, while S&P 500 futures <SPc1>
rose 0.5 percent, indicating a likely firmer start for Wall
Street later in the day.
Investors flocked back to riskier assets, emboldened by
strong U.S. corporate earnings and signs the global economy is
chugging along even as the U.S. Federal Reserve remains cautious
about when it will start to unwind its super-loose policy.
With little chance of the Fed raising interest rates anytime
soon, the dollar index fell about 0.6 percent to 73.898,
its lowest level since August 2008, and technical charts
suggested it could move towards a record low of 70.698 hit
earlier that year.
Asian stocks recovered sharply from a stumble earlier in the
week and rose to their highest level since January 2008. The
MSCI Asia ex-Japan advanced 1.3 percent,
bringing its weekly gain to 2.4 percent.
Technology stocks, particularly chip makers, led gains after
iPod maker Apple crushed earnings forecasts.
[]
Shares in Hynix Semiconductor , the world's No.2
memory chip maker, surged 7.9 percent to a record high. Samsung
Electronics , the world's No.1 memory chip maker,
climbed 1.3 percent.
"The risk-on mood prevailing in global markets allowed
investors to focus on fundamental strengths of emerging
economies, boosting prices of their equities," said Dariusz
Kowalczyk, analyst at Credit Agricole in Hong Kong, in a note.
Japan's Nikkei rose a more modest 0.8 percent.
"The market is looking for clues about the damage from the
quake in U.S. earnings, but it's hard to draw any conclusions as
both Apple and Intel have very diversified supply chains," said
Koichi Ogawa, chief portfolio manager at Daiwa SB Investments,
referring to a massive earthquake in Japan last month which
knocked many factories offline.
DOLLAR OUTLOOK GRIM, GOLD AT RECORD
The sharply weakening U.S. dollar has suffered the most
against commodity-linked currencies such as the Australian and
Canadian dollars, as well as emerging markets currencies such as
the Singapore dollar as some policymakers in Asia allow more
currency strength to fight imported inflation.
Brazil's central bank raised its benchmark interest rate
on Wednesday to 12 percent from 11.75 percent as it
seeks to rein in consumer prices.
Spot gold hit a record high of $1507.15 an ounce and
spot silver soared to a 31-year high while the Australian
dollar powered to peaks above $1.07 -- a level not seen since
the currency became free-floating in the early 1980's.
For the week, the Aussie was up 1.8 percent, making it the
best performer among G10 currencies.
The euro pushed to 15-month peaks but has lagged the
broader move due to resurgent worries about the euro zone
crisis. Although a solid auction of Spanish debt the previous
day helped provide some reassurance, markets remain concerned
that Greece is on the verge of announcing a debt restructuring,
despite repeated denials by Athens.
U.S. Treasury futures <TYv1> were slightly lower, with the
June futures on the benchmark 10-year down 4/32 in Asia.
* For Reuters Global Investing Blog, click on
http://blogs.reuters.com/globalinvesting
* For the MacroScope Blog, click on
http://blogs.reuters.com/macroscope
* For Hedge Fund Blog, click on
http://blogs.reuters.com/hedgehub
(Additional reporting by Antoni Slodowski in TOKYO; Editing by
Kim Coghill)
