* MSCI Asia-Pacific ex-Japan index falls for 4th day
* Need for safety drives up yen, U.S. dollar, U.S.
Treasuries
* High-yield bonds in heavy demand on hunger for
yield-EPFR
(Repeats to additional subscribers with no change to text)
By Kevin Plumberg
HONG KONG, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Asian stocks slipped for a
fourth consecutive session and the yen climbed against the euro
on Monday, as a relentless global economic slowdown renewed
invester caution about taking on risk.
Friday's December U.S. payrolls report, which showed more
than half a million jobs lost and the highest unemployment rate
since 1993, aggravated anxieties that consumer demand for Asian
exports is nowhere near recovering, keeping oil prices near $40
a barrel. []
"The negativity still sits in the market, nothing's really
changed in 2009," said Dominic Vaughan, senior dealer at CMC
Markets in Australia. "In the next three to six months we've
still got difficult times ahead for commodity markets and
global markets as well," he said.
The MSCI index of stocks in the Asia-Pacific region outside
Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> fell 1.1 percent, down for a fourth day
after a rally that lifted the gauge to a one-month high fizzled
last week.
Japan's markets were closed for a public holiday.
Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index <> led the
region lower, falling 1.6 percent. A steady drumbeat of dour
global economic data has darkened the outlook on demand for
industrial materials, weighing on shares of global miners such
as BHP Billiton Ltd <BHP.AX>.
The euro was under broad pressure ahead of a European
Central Bank policy meeting on Thursday, at which policymakers
were expected to cut rates by a half-percentage point to 2
percent.
A collapse in the European manufacturing sector as well as
the increased risk of sovereign debt rating downgrades in
Europe put pressure on the ECB to cut rates and catch up with
other major central banks. The Bank of England has cut
borrowing costs to a record low and the Federal Reserve has set
rates within a negligible range of zero to 0.25 percent.
The euro fell 0.4 percent against the U.S. dollar to
$1.3422 <EUR=>. Against the yen, the euro was down 0.4 percent
to 121.01 <EURJPY=> after an aggressive selloff on Friday.
The U.S. dollar was trading largely unchanged at 90.15 yen
<JPY=>, as the need for safety increased demand for both
currencies.
Aluminium producer Alcoa <AA.N> will report its results
later on Monday, kicking off the earnings season. Investors
will be wary of any reason for analysts to cut their U.S.
earnings expectations, which could kill off the past month's
rally into stocks, commodities and emerging markets.
Last week, capital slowly flowed back into riskier assets,
though investor caution after such a devasting 2008 also kept
money market funds absorbing fresh investment.
Corporate bonds have seen heavy demand in the last week as
hunger for yield and bargain hunting drove portfolio managers
out from the sidelines. High yield bond funds took in $910.9
million in new investment last week, the highest weekly inflow
since Boston-based research firm EPFR Global began to track the
data in four years ago.
"The winning run by High Yield Bond Funds has been driven
by a combination of gradually rising risk appetite, a hunger
for yield, short covering and the quality of some debt that has
dropped into the high yield/junk pool in recent months," said
Brad Durham, EPFR Global managing director in a note.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note
<US10YT=RR> was up a touch to 2.41 percent from 2.39 percent
late on Friday in New York, when the U.S. payrolls report
caused a rush to safety.
The jobs data also hit a nerve in commodity markets.
U.S. light crude for February delivery <CLc1> edged down 32
cents to $40.51 a barrel, flirting with a sustained drop below
the psychologically important $40 level.
News that OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia plans to cut oil output
to below its agreed target for the cartel, ongoing supply
disruptions in Europe from the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute and
tensions in the Middle East did little to sway the market from
a focus on dwindling world-wide energy demand.
(Additional reporting by Sonali Paul in MELBOURNE; Editing by
Lincoln Feast)
