* Asian stocks rise, Taiwan posts near 7-month closing high
* Eyes on U.S. bank results due this week
* Oil falls below $52 on IEA demand downgrade
* Hopes grow for global economy, but investors still wary
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By Elaine Lies
TOKYO, April 13 (Reuters) - Asian stocks rose on Monday on
hopes for the global economy, with Taiwan shares hitting a near
7-month closing high, while oil prices slipped below $52 after
a dramatic oil demand downgrade by the International Energy
Agency.
But trade was thinned with many Asian and European centres
still out for the long Easter holiday weekend, and shares were
largely directionless as investors waited for U.S. bank results
due out this week and the resulting reaction of stock markets.
U.S. banks including Goldman Sachs <GS.N> JPMorgan <JPM.N>
and Citigroup <C.N> are set to report first-quarter results
this week.
"The world is watching this, and with stock markets likely
to move strongly in response, nobody wants to either buy or
sell actively today," said Masayoshi Okamoto, head of dealing
at Jujiya Securities in Tokyo.
"People remain positive overall, though."
Hopes that the global economy may be over the worst,
particularly after a robust rise in Chinese loan data released
at the weekend, meant sentiment remained largely positive.
Central bank data on Saturday showed China's banks lent a
record amount of new local currency loans, the latest sign that
the economy is gaining steam, and helped send Chinese stocks up
more than 3 percent in heavy trade [].
Taiwan stocks were led higher by property shares such as
Cathay Real Estate <2501.T> climbing after parliament approved
a special spending budget, while Seoul shares rose on automaker
gains after the government said it will inject money to support
the car industry through the global downturn. []
But Japan's benchmark Nikkei <> underperformed the
rest of Asia to close down 0.4 percent, dragged lower by
retailers and tech firms such as TDK Corp <6762.T> after a day
of seesaw trade that took it in and out of negative territory.
With U.S. markets closed on Friday, local factors took the
lead in most Asian markets as investors waited for Wall Street
to resume trading later in the day.
"Investors are divided over whether shares at the current
level still have room to rise, or whether we need to see
clearer signs of a recovery in the U.S. bank sector and the
global economy," said Lee Sun-yeob, a market analyst at
Goodmorning Shinhan Securities in Seoul.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index <> (KOSPI)
closed up 0.2 percent at 1,338.16, while Taiwan's main TAIEX
share index <> gained 1.3 percent to 5,857.64.
The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> rose 0.5 percent, crawling back towards a
six-month high hit a week ago.
OIL SLIDES
The dollar edged up against the yen in quiet trade, gaining
0.2 percent to 100.38 yen <JPY=>.
U.S. crude for May delivery <CLc1> fell 0.75 to $51.49 on
Monday, the first day of trade since Thursday's nearly 6
percent gain, as the market waited for confirmation of the grim
demand outlook from the U.S. government.
The IEA said on Friday that world oil demand will dive by
2.4 million barrels per day to 83.4 million bpd this year, a
one million bpd cut from its previous report []
The U.S. Energy Information Administration is set to
release its short-term energy outlook on Tuesday, while OPEC
publishes its updated monthly view on Wednesday.
Japanese government bonds were little changed in subdued
trading as uncertainty over the outlook for extra JGB issuance
kept investors on the sidelines.
The government said on Friday it would issue more than 10
trillion yen ($100 billion) of debt in the year to March 2010
to finance its latest stimulus package, which is worth $154
billion. []
(Editing by Kazunori Takada)
(Additional reporting by Jungyoun Park in SEOUL)
