* Fraud charges against Goldman spur broader profit taking
* US earnings worries, drop in consumer sentiment also
weigh
* Asian stocks fall 1.6 pct, slip further from 22-mth highs
* Travel stocks among top losers on European flight ban
* Commodities ease; oil, copper off recent highs
* Yen, U.S. dollar benefit in the shift towards safety
SYDNEY, April 19 (Reuters) - Asian stocks and commodities
fell on Monday as fraud charges against Goldman Sachs <GS.N>,
disappointing company earnings and a surprise drop in U.S.
consumer sentiment gave investors an excuse to take profits
from a recent rally to multi-month highs.
* Some analysts say a sell-off in riskier assets was due
anyway given their recent strong run-up, and that growing
evidence the world economy was healing well should limit
losses.
* Charges against Goldman [] weighed on
regional bank stocks even though most Asian banks were not as
active as their U.S. peers in the subprime mortgage market.
* Airlines and tourism stocks also fell as flights to
Europe remained grounded due to a volcanic ash cloud from
Iceland.
* Weak Asian equities boosted safe-haven demand, pushing
government bond yields lower while lifting the yen and U.S.
dollar.
* "What we are seeing is a reaction to the Goldman Sachs
news, but I think this will be very short-lived with investors
focus likely to return to economic data in the next few days,"
said Joseph Capurso, currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank.
* The yen <JPY=> rose as far as a one-month high of 91.85,
up 0.3 percent from late trade in New York on Friday. The U.S.
dollar <.DXY> also got a boost as investors retreated into the
safety of its liquidity.
* The euro <EUR=> was down against the dollar at $1.3485
<EUR=>, having fallen to as low as $1.3469, its lowest since
April 9.
* For the first time in weeks, Greece's debt woes were not
the focal talking point in the market. With a trip to Greece by
European and IMF officials delayed by the volcanic ash cloud,
no major updates expected before Wednesday. []
* Oil <CLc1> lost more than a dollar [] to retreat
further from 18-month highs. Shanghai copper dropped over 2
percent, tracking losses in the London three-month benchmark
contract which had hit 20-month highs last week.
* MSCI index of Asian stocks outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS>
lost 1.6 percent, further retreating from a 22-month high hit
on Thursday.
* Japan's Nikkei <> was down 1.8 percent after
breaching its closely-watched 25-day moving average.
Top bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group <8306.T> fell 2.7
percent, Mizuho Financial Group lost 2.1 percent, and Sumitomo
Mitsui Financial Group <8316.T>, Japan's No. 3 bank, fell 3.5
percent.
* Among travel-related stocks Singapore Airlines <SIAL.SI>,
the world's second-largest carrier by market value, shed 2.7
percent. Korean Airline <003490.KS>, South Korea's top air
carrier, lost 1.48 percent.
* Hana Tour <039130.KQ>, one of South Korea's leading tour
agencies, dropped 2.73 percent.
* U.S. Treasuries [] were firm in early Asian trade,
while five-year Japanese government bond yields fell below 0.5
percent to a one-month low. []
* U.S. consumer sentiment took a surprise negative turn in
early April due to a persistently grim outlook on income and
jobs, a private survey released on Friday showed. Consumer
sentiment is seen as a proxy for consumer spending, which fuels
about 70 percent of the U.S. economy. []
* After a six-week rally, U.S. stock indexes fell by as
much as 1.6 percent on Friday, with Goldman plunging 13
percent. Markets were also pressured by results from Google
Inc, <GOOG.O>, Bank of America <BAC.N> and General Electric
<GE.N> which fell short of expectations. []
(Additional reporting by Anirban Nag in SYDNEY)
(Reporting by Koh Gui Qing; Editing by Kim Coghill)
