* Another round of tightening from China likely
* Gold at a record high, silver at 31-year peaks
* Inflows into emerging market funds slows - Lipper
By Saikat Chatterjee
HONG KONG, April 15 (Reuters) - Asian shares were poised for
their first weekly losses in a month, as investors took profits
after a recent rally while a pick-up in inflationary pressures
sent gold racing to yet another record high on Friday.
Financial markets braced for another round of policy
tightening from Beijing, possibly as early as this weekend,
after fresh data showed consumer price inflation accelerating to
5.4 percent in the year to March, the fastest since July 2008
and topping market forecasts. []
Asian central banks have resorted to various measures to
tighten policy with some like Singapore sanctioning an increase
in the value of their currency to keep prices in check.
"The weakness in markets this week is expected after the
smart comeback we have seen recently with inflationary concerns
again coming to the forefront," said Jan Lambregts, global head
of financial markets research at Rabobank.
INFLATIONARY SCARE
An inflationary scare in the opening weeks of 2011 saw a
widespread selloff across emerging markets but markets have
staged a smart comeback since then as policymakers have taken
various steps to rein in price pressures.
Even the triple natural disaster in Japan has proved to be a
speed bump for investors.
While the Nikkei remains more than 7 percent below its
pre-quake levels, the MSCI index of Asian stocks outside Japan
has gained around 8 percent since the disaster.
On Friday, stock markets in Australia , Japan
and South Korea slipped, with shares in Seoul weakening
after hitting a fresh closing high the previous session.
The Nikkei was down 0.4 percent. Japanese equity funds had
minor outflows of $8.7 million, breaking their inflow streak of
nine straight weeks, according to Thomson Reuters Lipper data.
Outside Japan, stocks were down 0.2 percent
Friday and were set to weaken for the week after hitting a
three-year high on Monday as fund inflows slowed.
Emerging markets pulled in a net $1.2 billion in the week
ending April 13 with the iShares MSCI Emerging Market equity
fund pulling in a net $595 million, down from the prior
week's inflow of $1.6 billion. []
GOLD SHINES
As price pressures showed signs of picking up, gold
considered as an inflation hedge, jumped to yet another record
high, nearing the $1,480 per ounce mark, dragging silver
along with it to 31-year highs.
"We see gold peaking at $1,500 an ounce. We think there
could be some more upside in gold in the short term, especially
in this environment of high inflation and rising oil prices,"
said Natalie Robertson, commodities strategist at ANZ.
Gold's rally of nearly 13 percent from the January lows has
also been fuelled by the weakening dollar.
The dollar wallowed at a 16-month trough against a basket of
currencies as the market realised that there is scant
chance of the Fed tightening for some time to come given the
focus on unemployment rather than on inflation []
Preying on the dollar's outlook has also been a rash of
growth downgrades which has also prompted investors to take
profits in U.S. stocks after recent gains.
A Reuters poll of economists showed 2011 gross domestic
product forecasts fell to 2.9 percent from 3.1 percent. For
details, see []
Other commodities shone too.
Oil saw a solid start with Brent crude <LCOc1> up nearly
half a percent to $122.45. Grains and copper prices firmed too,
with the broader Reuters-Jefferies commodities index
flirting near record highs hit on Monday.
In the bond markets, ten-year U.S. notes crawled
in a tight band before inflation data due later in the day.
* For Reuters Global Investing Blog, click on
http://blogs.reuters.com/globalinvesting
* For the MacroScope Blog, click on
http://blogs.reuters.com/macroscope
* For Hedge Fund Blog, click on
http://blogs.reuters.com/hedgehub
(Additional reporting by Antoni Slodkowski; in TOKYO and Lewa
Pardomuan; in SINGAPORE; Editing by Richard Borsuk)
