* Euro bounces on Ireland's bailout but off highs
* U.S. stock futures up; gold a shade firmer
* Currency, bond investors doubt deal can contain crisis
SYDNEY, Nov 29 (Reuters) - The embattled euro crept off
two-month lows on Monday after European authorities tried to
protect the region's financial stability by agreeing to lend
debt-soaked Ireland 85 billion euros.
Market reaction to the deal in early Asian trade was mixed.
Currency and bond traders doubted the deal was enough to
prevent fiscally pressured Portugal and Spain from being next
in line to suffer a debt crisis.
Stock investors, on the other hand, seemed to have warmed
to the Irish bailout, at least for now. The commodity market
also seemed sanguine about Europe's fiscal tensions.
S&P 500 futures <SPc1> climbed 0.5 percent. The Australian
and New Zealand share markets, the first to
start trade in Asia, suffered only light losses of 0.2 percent
each.
Tensions on the Korean peninsula also remained in focus
after North Korea's shelling of a South Korean island last
week. Seoul shares opened up 0.2 percent, but the won
fell 0.3 percent against the dollar.
Gold , which tends to be in demand when investors
shy away from risk, was a shade softer at $1,358.56.
Crude oil prices <CLc1> were flat at $83.94 a barrel.
But there were clear doubts in the currency market that
Europe's debt problems were over.
Already, the euro was giving up some of its gains
in early Asian trade. It was defensive at $1.3278, having shot
as high as $1.3345 in thin trade after the European Union aid
or Ireland was announced. []
It had plumbed a two-month low of $1.3200 in late New York
trade on Friday.
Some analysts, predicting the euro was not out of the
woods, said its latest bounce was driven by speculators taking
profits in their bets against the common currency.
"The package is pretty much what most would have
anticipated, so it's not a surprise to anyone," said Greg
Gibbs, strategist at RBS in Sydney.
"It doesn't really change the real fear the market has
that this could spread beyond Ireland to Portugal and Spain."
The U.S. dollar benefited the most from the euro's
struggle, in part driven by safe-haven demand, and as
investors continued to play the trend of a rebounding U.S.
currency.
The dollar index, which measures its performance against a
basket of currencies, was firm at 80.357, within spitting
distance of a two-month high of 80.399 hit in New York on
Friday.
U.S. two- <0#TU:>, five- <0#FV:> and 10-year <0#TY:>
Treasury futures were firm across the curve.
(Reporting by Koh Gui Qing and Ian Chua; Editing by Mark
Bendeich and Alex Richardson)
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