* Asian stocks inch up after Greece relief
* Miners boosted by copper's surge to a 7-week high
* Euro edges higher but gains seen capped
By Umesh Desai
HONG KONG, March 4 (Reuters) - Asian shares eked out gains
and the euro extended its rise on Thursday after Greece
announced fresh austerity measures to reduce its deficit and on
data pointing to a rebound in the U.S. jobs market.
Mining stocks were boosted by copper's surge on the London
Metal Exchange where the metal struck a 7-week high following
the slide in the dollar, which fell after Federal Reserve
officials said U.S. interest rates will stay low for a long
time.
The improvement in the U.S. labour market and the dollar's
weakness also helped oil's rise towards $81 a barrel overnight
despite a U.S. government report of a large rise in crude
inventories.
The MSCI index of Asian shares outside Japan
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> was up 0.2 percent in cautious trade, with
investors not fully convinced about the robustness of the
global economic recovery and doubtful about an immediate end to
the debt crisis in Europe.
The gains were mainly driven by the materials and consumer
staples sectors.
"There are still doubts whether Europe as a whole will be
able to go through this relatively well because other countries
in the region are also in quite difficult fiscal situations,"
said Nicholas Yeo, investment manager at Aberdeen Asset
Management.
Overnight, Greece announced plans for a further $6.5
billion in pay cuts and tax hikes to reduce its deficit.
[]. The EU endorsed the Greek plan but Germany
stopped short of committing to explicit financial support.
[].
Although market pressure on Greece has eased in recent
days, a Reuters poll of economists showed on Tuesday that
scepticism about the government's ability to meet a goal to
slash its deficit by four percentage points this year still
runs deep.
Only 18 of 47 respondents said they believed Athens would
meet that target. []
Mining stocks such as Japan's Sumitomo Metal Mining
<5713.T> and Australia's BHP Billiton <BHP.AX> and Rio Tinto
<RIO.AX> all rose, boosted by copper's gains and the dollar's
fall against the euro which made metals cheaper for non-U.S.
investors amid signs that demand was improving cropped up in
the U.S. and Asia. []
Spot gold <XAU=> slipped on profit taking after hitting an
intraday high around $1,144 on Wednesday following Greece's new
measures.
The dollar's decline, sparked by the Fed comments, was
hastened by investors moving to higher-yielding currencies like
the Australian dollar <AUD=D4>. Traders also trimmed long
positions in the U.S. currency, which last week had built up to
their highest since September 2008.
The dollar index <.DXY> slipped past the 80 level to 79.96,
with short-term support seen around the 79.60 area -- its Feb.
16 low.
The euro inched up to $1.3712 in Asian trade from $1.3700
late on Wednesday in New York. It had risen to as high as
$1.3736 in the previous session, after some stops were
triggered at $1.3700.
Earlier this week, the euro had hit a 9-1/2-month low of
$1.3432 on worries about the euro zone.
Economists are concerned about which euro area member might
be the next troubled spot and only five of 65 economists now
expect the euro/dollar to reach $1.50 in the next 12 months,
compared to 15 of 62 in last month's poll.
In contrast, 33 of 65 see the euro at or below $1.30 in the
coming year, compared to just 11 of 62 in the February poll.
