(Repeating to additional subscribers with no changes to text)
* Asia shares fall, resources companies hit by weak oil
price
* Dollar still firm as Asian currencies see profit taking
* Korea govt bonds rebound as minister dampens rate rise
talk
By Susan Fenton
HONG KONG, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Asian shares followed Wall
Street lower on Tuesday with resources stocks under pressure as
the price of oil stayed below $79 and with investors growing
increasingly worried about the recovery of the world economy.
Japan's Nikkei index <> was down 1.3 percent with
shares in Mitsubishi <8058.T> skidding 4.3 percent as trading
houses were hurt by lower oil and commodity prices in the past
day.
Oil <CLc1> was at $78.78, below $79 a barrel for a fourth
day, amid concerns that a sluggish global economic recovery
will limit fuel demand. It hit a year high at $82 last
Wednesday.
Investor concern that economic recovery could be slow lent
support to the dollar and encouraged profit taking in riskier
assets including high-yielding currencies such as the Korean
won <KRW=> and and the Philippine peso.
The won was nearly 1 percent lower at 1,188.40 to the
dollar while the Philippine peso <PHP=> hit a one-month low at
47.30 to the dollar. However, with the world economy recovering
and Asian interest rates likely to rise before U.S. rates,
analysts saw the dollar rebound, and the falling oil price, as
temporary.
"While the U.S. dollar strengthened overnight, we do not
think this will be a trend," said Song Kyung-keun, an analyst
at Dongbu Securities in Seoul. "To what extent the won and
crude prices strengthen are two key uncertainties."
In Australia, shares were down 1 percent with mining giants
BHP Billiton <BHP.AX> and Rio Tinto <RIO.AX> were both down 1.7
percent.
The MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks traded outside Japan
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> was 1 percent lower while the Thomson Reuters
index of regional shares <.TRXFLDAXPU> was down 1.6 percent.
CHINA LIFE GAINS
Investor sentiment was subdued after the S&P 500 <.SPX>
fell 1.2 percent and the Dow Jones industrial average <>
fell 1 percent on Monday.
Regional economic reports in the United States suggested
the world's biggest economy has clambered back to levels
associated with the end of recession but recovery will be
patchy and may prove fleeting. []
Shares in China's leading Internet search company Baidu Inc
<BIDU.O> plunged nearly 13 percent after hours in New York
after it warned that the transition to a new advertising
technology would crimp revenue this quarter. []
The Asian earnings picture generally though continues to
improve. Shares of Japanese electronics conglomerate Hitachi
Ltd <6501.T> jumped 4 percent on Tuesday after the company cut
its annual net loss forecast by 15 percent, citing a recovery
in emerging markets, government spending and cost cuts.
Shares in China Life Insurance Co <2628.HK>, the world's
top life insurer by market value, rose 1.7 percent in Hong Kong
after the Chinese company's third-quarter earnings more than
double. [].
South Korean government bond prices rebounded as investors
went bargain hunting after a recent selloff after a vice
finance ministers' cautioned against an early rise in interest
rates. []
The benchmark five-year treasury bond yield <KR5YT=KSDA>
fell 2 basis points to 5.08 percent.
(Additional reporting by Jungyoun Park in SEOUL; Editing by
Jan Dahinten)
