* Asian shares dip but hover near 2-mth peak
* Indonesia and Japan outperform Asian peers in Jan-Mar qtr
* Nikkei hits 18-mth intraday high at Japan fiscal year-end
* Aussie dollar skids on soft retail sales data
(Repeats to more subscribers)
By Masayuki Kitano
TOKYO, March 31 (Reuters) - Japanese shares rose to
18-month highs on Wednesday, continuing to eclipse their peers
elsewhere in Asia, as a rebound in U.S. consumer confidence
boosted hopes that a global economic recovery will prove to be
sustainable.
Japanese stocks <.MIAPJ0000PUS> have climbed around 8
percent in the January-March quarter, outperforming a roughly 2
percent gain in the rest of Asia-Pacific <.MIJP00000PJP>, as
measured by MSCI indexes.
That puts the performance of Tokyo shares on a par with
those in Indonesia <.MIID00000PID>, which have been the top
performer in MSCI's Asia-Pacific ex-Japan index so far this
year.
Healthy buying by foreign investors has supported both
Indonesian and Japanese equities this quarter and further gains
are expected in the coming months, with Jakarta shares seen
buoyed by strong economic growth and improving corporate
earnings giving a boost to Tokyo shares.
"Improvement in the global economy and world stock markets
-- the Dow is nearly back at the level it was when Lehman
collapsed -- will mean still further improvement in the Nikkei
over the April-June quarter," said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, group
manager at SMBC Friend Securities.
"Investor sentiment is likely to improve still more from
April, when we have things like the Bank of Japan's tankan
survey (of business sentiment.) We (the Nikkei) may try 12,000
in April."
In Japan, the Nikkei share average rose 0.3 percent <>
and hit an 18-month intraday just below 11,140 on Wednesday.
The Nikkei has climbed 5.5 percent in the January-March
quarter.
MSCI's Asia-Pacific ex-Japan index dipped 0.2 percent.
Data on Tuesday showed U.S. consumer confidence rebounded
in March and U.S. home prices rose in January for the eighth
straight month. []
Steady buying by overseas investors, who were underweight
Japanese equities last year, has contributed to the rally this
quarter. Foreign investors have bought a net 1.9 trillion yen
($20.48 billion) worth of Japanese shares so far in 2010,
according to government data. []
BULLISH ON EMERGING MARKETS
All of the world's major stock indexes are expected to
finish the year higher than current levels, Reuters polls
showed in mid-March <EQUITYPOLL1>.
Emerging stock markets are again expected to easily outpace
their rich world counterparts despite stumbling early in the
year.
The S&P 500 <.SPX> could gain 10 percent over all of 2010,
outperforming its rivals in Europe which are being dogged by
worries about high debt levels in Greece and other parts of the
euro zone.
Indonesia's index <> has already climbed more than 10
percent this quarter, nearing a record high set in January
2008.
"Indonesia has emerged as the next growth story, supported
by strong macro indicators, a large domestic market and rising
per capita income," Salman Ali at Citi Investment Research said
in a recent research note.
"Investor expectations are that economic growth will move
up from 5.5-6 percent to 7-8 percent, approaching the levels of
India/China."
The Australian dollar <AUD=D4> fell after retail sales
there surprised by falling a steep 1.4 percent in February,
more than unwinding January's jump and casting doubt on market
expectations for an increase in interest rates next week.
[]
The yen fell and hit a three-month low against the dollar
<JPY=> as short-term players unwound yen long positions before
the Easter holidays.
The dollar rose 0.5 percent to 93.23 yen, having trimmed
some gains after rising to 93.35 yen on trading platform EBS,
its highest since early January.
The euro held steady at $1.3408 <EUR=>.
Oil prices were little changed at $82.34 per barrel <CLc1>,
while gold ticked higher to $1,106.20 <XAU=> an ounce.
($1=92.75 Yen)
(Additional reporting by Elaine Lies in Tokyo and Viparat
Jantraprap in Bangkok; Editing by Kazunori Takada)
