* Yen falls back from 15-year high on intervention wary
* World stocks fall for 5th day straight
By Dominic Lau
LONDON, Aug 25 (Reuters) - The yen eased from a 15-year high
on Wednesday on a report that Tokyo was considering weakening
its currency, while world stocks fell for the fifth day on
concerns over the global economy sliding back into recession.
However, a better-than-expected German business sentiment
reading from think tank Ifo helped lift European shares into the
black.
Crude prices also bounced from a seven-week low as investors
looked for relief in U.S. durable goods and oil inventory
reports due later in the day, though safe-haven gold prices
steadied.
Nikkei business daily reported Japan's Ministry of Finance
may consider unilateral yen-selling market intervention if
speculators drive up the currency. The dollar has lost nearly 9
percent against the Japanese currency this year. []
Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda reinforced that view,
telling reporters that recent yen moves were one-sided and Tokyo
will respond appropriately when necessary. []
But some in the market said it was unlikely the Japanese
would intervene at current levels.
"I think it's unlikely there would be intervention much
above 80 yen," said Ray Farris, chief currency strategist at
Credit Suisse in London.
"Price action is not disorderly and the yen is not
overvalued by our estimates."
The dollar was up 0.7 percent at 84.56 yen <JPY=>, though it
was down 0.2 percent against a basket of currencies <.DXY>.
The yen also fell from a nine-year peak against the euro.
However, Tokyo's Nikkei average <> lost 1.7 percent to
hit a 16-month closing low on disappointment over the lack of
policy action by the authorities to rein in the strong yen,
which threatens a fragile economic recovery.
Illustrating the concerns over global growth, miner BHP
Billiton <BLT.L> <BHP.AX> said it was cautious on the short-term
outlook and that the economy in China, its biggest customer,
would slow from recent highs. []
World equities measured by the MSCI All-Country World Index
<.MIWD000000PUS> dropped 0.2 percent for the fifth straight
session, and the Thomson Reuters global stock index
<.TRXFLDPIPU> lost 0.2 percent.
Europe's FTSEurofirst 300 <> drifted 0.1 percent
higher, aided by the Ifo results. []
A one-notch downgrade of Ireland's debt rating by Standard &
Poor's sent a reminder of the problems that the euro zone
peripheral economies faced with their debt.
The cost of protecting Irish government bond from default
rose, with the five-year credit default swaps up 3 basis points
(bps) to 310 bps.
The 10-year Irish/German government bond yield spread
<IE10YT=TWEB> <DE10YT=TWEB> widened by 4 bps to 334 bps.
"The strong corporate earnings we got during the summer had
eclipsed the euro zone's sovereign debt fears in investors'
minds, but this downgrade is a reminder that the problems have
not gone away," said Christian Jimenez, fund manager and
president of Diamant Bleu Gestion in Paris.
Yields on benchmark 10-year German Bunds were up 2 bps at
2.206 percent, while those on 10-year U.S. Treasuries
<US10YT=RR> were up 2 bps at 2.5163 percent.
Oil prices <CLc1> rebounded 0.9 percent to trade above $72 a
barrel and copper <MCU3> also recovered from a 1.6 percent drop
on Tuesday following a record fall in U.S. existing home sales.
(Additional reporting by Kevin Plumberg in Hong Kong, Neal
Armstrong and Ian Chua in London, and Blaise Robinson in Paris;
editing by Stephen Nisbet)
