(repeats to additional subscribers)
* Order of the day: US stimulus, 'bad bank' plan, payrolls
* Australia central bank cuts GDP view but currency
resilient
* MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan stocks index up for second
week
By Kevin Plumberg
HONG KONG, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Asia stocks rose for a fourth
day on Friday, with investors awaiting a vote on a massive U.S.
stimulus package, while the dollar was steady ahead of U.S.
employment data likely to reflect a deep recession.
Most other currencies and U.S. Treasuries remained in
narrow trading ranges, with the market's attention focussed on
the fate of stimulus measures and a "bad bank" scheme to
separate the toxic assets plaguing financial institutions,
which is expected to be announced next week.
The overwhelmingly clear direction of economic data in most
countries has pointed to weakness but investors would like to
see the size and scope of the next U.S. stimulus effort to
determine how quickly a recovery could take shape. The U.S.
Senate is debating a $920 billion plan but it could shrink
before being passed. []
"Expectations for some fresh development in the U.S.
economic measures next week, including the establishment of a
'bad bank' scheme, and a weaker yen are encouraging investors
to pick up stocks," said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, manager at SMBC
Friend Securities in Tokyo.
Japan's Nikkei share average <> rose 1.7 percent, with
Softbank Corp stock <9984.T> among the biggest boosts to the
index after the country's third-largest mobile phone operator
reported a 2 percent rise in quarterly profit and kept its
forecast for the year.
The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> climbed 1.2 percent, tacking on a second
consecutive week of gains.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng <> rose 2.3 percent, gapping
higher at the open, with index heavyweights such as HSBC
<0005.HK> and China Mobile <0941.HK> in solid demand.
Short-term movement markets are notoriously difficult to
forecast, even without a global financial crisis. However,
Garry Evans, head of pan-Asian strategy with HSBC in Hong Kong,
said after a few more weeks of hard times, regional stocks
should rally for a couple of months on improvements in the U.S.
economy and expectations of a second-half recovery.
Evans said though that this will not be a start of a bull
market since the sword of under-capitalised banks, the effects
of a rapid slowdown in Asia and big budget deficits among other
things still hangs over investors.
"We are comfortable, then, with our view that, after all
these ups and downs, Asian equities will end the year close to
where they started it. But after the excitements of last year,
maybe dull is good," he said in a note.
The U.S. dollar slipped against the yen in cautious trade
before key jobs data that is expected to paint an even bleaker
picture of the U.S. labour market.
The dollar slipped 0.1 percent to 91 yen <JPY=> after at
one point rising above 92 yen to a one-month high overnight on
hopes the government rescue plan for banks might include
suspension of a key accounting rule, thawing investors'
aversion to risk.
The euro was at $1.2790 <EUR=>.
OIL SLIPS
The Australian dollar fought back from initial losses after
after the country's central bank slashed its growth forecasts,
paving the way for more interest rate cuts. []
The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was
steady at 2.91 percent <US10YT=RR>. U.S. yields, particularly
on longer-dated debt, have been rising quite steadily and this
week extended gains to retrace nearly a quarter of the 300
basis point decline between June 2007 and December 2008.
Japanese government bond futures <2JGBv1> fell to a
2-1/2-month low as equity markets rose.
Oil prices <CLc1> slipped 25 cents to $40.92 a barrel,
after climbing about 70 cents overnight on hopes for U.S.
stimulus measures to take shape sooner rather than later. As it
has for the last three weeks, the $40 level has been a floor
for prices.
