(Repeating to additional subscribers with no changes to text)
* Asian stocks ease as China ratchets up cash draining
* Nikkei hits 15-month high, buoyed by resource-linked
plays
* Dollar rises vs yen and euro after China comment
By Kevin Yao
SINGAPORE, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Asian stocks fell on Tuesday,
a day after hitting a 17-month high, on investor jitters about
tighter monetary policy in China, while the dollar rose after a
Chinese sovereign fund official said the currency has bottomed.
The MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks traded outside Japan
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> shed 0.6 percent, after China's central bank
stepped up its efforts to mop up money from the financial
system. The Thomson Reuters index of Asian shares <.TRXFLDAXPU>
was down 0.9 percent.
The People's Bank of China on Tuesday raised the auction
yield on one-year bills by a bigger-than-expected 8.29 basis
points and drained a record 200 billion yuan ($29 billion) from
the market, signalling a bias to tighten monetary conditions.
[]
"The rise in the auction yield today was much more than an
average market forecast of a four-basis-point rise, meaning the
central bank has stepped up its draining of liquidity even more
strongly than the market had expected," said Dong Dezhi, senior
money market analyst at Bank of China in Shanghai.
Last week, the bank had surprised markets by raising the
interest rate on three-month bills for the first time since
August, raising fears of a tightening cycle to head off
economic overheating.
A HASTY ADVANCE?
Analysts expect the central bank to raise rates and let the
yuan, pegged to the dollar, appreciate gradually later this
year.
Investors are increasingly focused on when central banks
will unwind emergency stimulus launched during the financial
crisis.
"I think markets may be getting a little ahead of
themselves. We saw this back in 2009 with the Fed and look how
that has panned out," said Selena Ling, head of treasury
research and strategy at OCBC Bank in Singapore.
The benchmark Shanghai stock index <> fell 0.7 percent
while Hong Kong's index <> lost almost 0.8 percent.
Shares in Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) <2600.HK>, fell
as much as 4.7 percent Kong on disappointing results from U.S.
aluminum producer Alcoa <AA.N>. []
Japan's Nikkei bucked the trend to hit a 15-month high,
lifted by resources stocks such as Sumitomo Metal Mining
<5713.T> on higher gold prices, though tech stocks fell
pressured by a stronger yen.
The dollar rose against the yen <JPY=> and the euro <EUR=>
after a China sovereign fund official said the dollar has hit
bottom and has limited room to fall further. [].
But the dollar gave up gains to as high as 92.43 yen after
the official said the comments were his personal views.
Oil <CLc1> fell 63 cents to $81.89 a barrel, while gold
hovered near 1,150 per ounce, a day after hitting a five-week
high at $1,157.65 as data showed a sharp rise in China's
commodities imports.
(Editing by Jan Dahinten)
