* Stocks climb nearly 2 pct on techs, banks
* Aussie jumps, some cross/yen short-covering seen
* NZ swap rates retreat before expected RBNZ rate cut
By Eric Burroughs
HONG KONG, April 29 (Reuters) - Asia stocks and the
Australian dollar bounced back on Wednesday from a two-day
slide, with investors taking heart from data showing the U.S.
economy slowly healing, and betting the swine flu outbreak will
be contained.
The yen slid against higher-yielding currencies on
improving risk appetite after data showing U.S. consumer
confidence posting its biggest monthly jump in three years and
the pace of home price declines slowing from a record pace.
[]
The signs of gradual recovery in the struggling U.S.
economy helped ease some of the worries about the impact of the
swine flu, as well as reports that top U.S. banks will need to
raise more capital after the government stress tests.
But investors were still on high alert over the risk of
swine flu being declared a pandemic and the potential economic
damage.
A global hunt turned up new infections all around the
world, and frightened governments warned people to stay away
from Mexico, where up to 159 people have died.
The number of infections in the United States rose to 65
[], Canada has 13 [] and new cases were
also confirmed in Israel and New Zealand.
But global health officials cautioned that the numbers
meant little in a rapidly changing situation, with doctors and
clinics rushing to test people with respiratory symptoms and no
one sure just how far the virus had spread.
Seoul's KOSPI index <> climbed 1.7 percent, led by
shares of technology companies like Samsung <005930.KS> and LG
Electronics <066570.KS>, and banks.
Analysts were still cautious about how much further shares
could rise given the still severe troubles gripping the global
economy.
"In order for the index to make a meaningful rebound, we
need clearer signs that the global economy and corporate
earnings will pick up by 2010, but we haven't seen those yet,"
said Choi Seong-lak, a market analyst at SK Securities in
Seoul.
The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> was up about 1.7 percent in morning trade.
Trading was limited due to a holiday in Japan, which begins
its Golden Week string of holidays that continue next Monday
through Wednesday. Many markets in Asia and around the world
will also be closed on Friday for May 1 holidays.
AUSSIE JUMPS, NZ SWAP RATES DOWN
The Australian dollar -- still among the most sensitive
currencies to shifts in risk appetite due to its relatively
high yield -- jumped 1.1 percent to $0.7135 <AUD=D4> and gained
1.6 percent against the yen <AUDJPY=R>.
Traders said some short-term speculators were covering
short positions in Aussie/yen and other yen cross currencies,
which tend to move in line with stocks, that were taken on news
of the swine flu outbreak at the start of the week.
The dollar climbed 0.6 percent to 96.95 yen <JPY=>, while
the euro was up 1 percent to 127.85 yen <EURJPY=R>.
As stock markets around the world rallied about 30 percent
from their early March lows, market players also favoured
traditional carry trade players in currencies -- borrowing
cheap funds in low-yielding currencies such as the yen to buy
higher-yielding ones.
In New Zealand, rates on interest-rate swaps <NZDIRS> fell
further, a day before the Reserve Bank of New Zealand
<NZCASH=RBNZ> is expected to cut rates by a half-point to a
record low 2.5 percent at a policy meeting. []
One-year swap rates fell 10 basis pints to 2.955 percent
and were just 14 basis points above a record low hit in early
March. Five-year swap rates were down about 10 basis points as
well to 4.655 percent and were down 43 basis points from a
four-month peak hit earlier in the month.
(Additional reporting by Jungyoun Park in Seoul; Editing by
Mathew Veedon)
