RPT-GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian shares struggle, euro wins respite

                                
 (Repeating to additional subscribers with no changes to text)
                                
 * Shanghai, Seoul gain, MSCI ex Japan mixed
                                
 * Japan, Australia fall as euro debt woes, Wall St weigh
                                
 * Euro firms as markets pause for EU economic summit
                                
 By Charlotte Cooper
                                
 TOKYO, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Asian share markets struggled to
hold firmer ground on Tuesday but won some respite from recent
losses, while the euro rose tentatively as investors took a
break from selling it off over fiscal concerns in the euro
zone.
                                
 The MSCI index of Asian shares outside Japan
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> slipped 0.2 percent after dipping to a
five-month low, although IT stocks gained, and shares in
Shanghai and Seoul turned higher while S&P futures <SPc1> were
flat.
                                
 Analysts said confidence was still flimsy, however, with
worries about fiscal problems in Greece, Spain and Portugal
likely to limit the scope of a rebound, and financial shares
trailed other sectors after banks led financials lower on Wall
Street.
                                
 European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet was
leaving a central bankers' meeting in Sydney early to attend a
European Union summit on the economy [ID:nSGE61801C]
                                
 Shares in Seoul rose 0.4 percent <.KS11>, with the KOSPI
bouncing from a two-month low to above 1,550 points helped by
Kumho Asiana Group shares which climbed after creditors pledged
to support South Korea's cash-starved No.9 conglomerate.
                                
 "Shares are making a modest rebound as the main index had
declined to around the mid-1,500 points, a psychologically
significant and 200-day moving average level," said Juhn
Jong-kyu, a market analyst at Samsung Securities.
                                
 "But sentiment is still weak amid deepening concerns about
southern European nations' sovereign rating risks."
                                
 Shanghai <.SSEC> lost early gains to rise 0.2 percent while
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index <.HSI> fell 0.3 percent after a
testing higher. It has shed more than 2 percent so far this
month.
                                
 Japan's Nikkei average <.N225> lost 0.4 percent and hit its
lowest in two months after breaking down through 10,000 points
on Monday, with shares of exporters down as the euro zone's
problems gnawed at investor confidence.
                                
 But beaten-down Toyota Motor <7203.T> shares climbed on
short-covering, while the firm prepared for a global recall of
its new Prius model, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group
<8316.T> rose after posting its biggest profit in seven
quarters. [.T] [ID:nLDE6171ZU] [ID:nTOE61409O]
                                
 Australian stocks also trailed, shedding 0.8 percent
<.AXJO>, after a lukewarm trading update from top investment
bank Macquarie Group <MQG.AX>. [ID:nSGE6170NU]
                                
 Macquarie was the market's biggest loser, sliding 6 percent
after its second-half profit forecast fell short of market
estimates and it warned equity capital markets and credit
business were not as strong as they were in the first half.
                                
 On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI>
fell 1 percent and ended below 10,000 for the first time since
November. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> shed 0.9
percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> dropped 0.7
percent.
                                
 In the currency markets, the euro inched up but remained
within sight of last week's 8-