* Asian stocks push higher together with Shanghai shares
* Newly launched Japan mutual funds attract $382 mln so far
* U.S. economy seen shrinking 1.5 pct in Q2
By Rika Otsuka
TOKYO, July 31 (Reuters) - The dollar slipped on Friday as
growing hopes for a global recovery prompted investors to pick up
riskier assets such as stocks, pushing up higher-yielding
currencies.
Investors' concerns about more falls in Chinese shares eased
after the Shanghai Composite Index <> climbed for a second
day, recovering some of Wednesday's 5 percent slide after a
senior central banker reiterated that loose monetary policies
would not be reversed. []
Risk aversion waned with the dollar and the yen coming under
pressure and stocks and oil rising after Thursday's solid U.S.
earnings reports and a drop in the number of Americans collecting
long-term unemployment aid.
"Investors who trimmed risky positions following a sharp fall
in Shanghai shares are taking risks again," said Tsutomu Soma,
senior manager of foreign securities at Okasan Securities.
The dollar index, a gauge of the greenback's performance
against six other major currencies, lost 0.3 percent to 79.024
<.DXY>, slipping back towards a seven-month low of 78.315 struck
on Tuesday.
The euro edged up 0.4 percent from late U.S. trade to $1.4129
<EUR=>, rising from a two-week low of $1.4007 hit on trading
platform EBS on Wednesday. Traders said stop-losses placed around
$1.4100 were triggered, prompting investors to buy the euro back.
The euro was up 0.2 percent at 134.72 yen <EURJPY=R>.
Asian stocks pushed higher on Friday and were poised to score
double-digit gains in July as investors kept pouring in funds on
bets the region's growth will lead the global economy out of
recession. []
Tokyo's Nikkei share average rose 1.8 percent <> and
struck a near 10-month intraday high on Friday. []
The higher-yielding Australian dollar rose 0.4 percent to
$0.8285 <AUD=D4>, holding firm in sight of this week's high of
$0.8339, which is also a 10-month high.
The Aussie was underpinned as strong inflation data on
Thursday continued to back expectations the next move in
Australian interest rates would be up.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is set to hold its
monthly policy meeting on Tuesday and is widely expected to keep
rates unchanged at 3 percent. But some analysts speculate the RBA
may drop its easing bias from its statement.
The Australian dollar was up 0.2 percent to 79.00 yen
<AUDJPY=R>, near six-week highs hit around 79.30 yen earlier this
week.
The dollar fell 0.2 percent to 95.39 yen <JPY=>, sliding from
a three-week high of 95.89 yen reached the previous day. Traders
said Japanese exporters sold dollars to repatriate overseas
earnings at the month-end.
Newly launched Japanese mutual funds that invest in global
assets have attracted Y36.4 bln ($382 million) so far on Friday,
according to data compiled by Reuters.
On Friday, 40 mutual funds were launched that will invest
part or all of their money in overseas assets, though one other
fund was cancelled.
The rush of fund launches was expected to keep the yen
vulnerable versus other major currencies in the longer term.
Activity slowed in late Tokyo trading hours as investors
awaited the U.S. government's advance report on second-quarter
gross domestic product at 1230 GMT.
A Reuters poll of economists gave a median forecast of a 1.5
percent contraction in the U.S. economy in the second quarter.
[]
That would be much less than the 5.5 percent contraction in
the previous quarter and would bolster views that the economy is
weak but its decline has slowed enough to support talk of
stabilisation.
(Editing by Hugh Lawson)
