* Asian stocks rebound from sharp sell-off on earnings
boost
* Goldman Sachs-linked jitters ease, blowout results ahead
* Aussie dollar jumps after central bank minutes
(Repeats to more subscribers)
By Umesh Desai
HONG KONG, April 20 (Reuters) - Asian stocks rebounded on
Tuesday, a day after suffering their biggest percentage fall in
10 weeks, as Citigroup's best results since 2007 raised
investor optimism about earnings growth.
A flurry of good results from Wall Street and easing fears
about the potential fallout from fraud charges against Goldman
Sachs <GS.N> also pulled down the dollar and the yen.
The optimism spilled over into Europe with stocks in the
region opening higher. []
The Australian dollar surged after minutes from a central
bank meeting hinted that more interest rate rises were in the
pipeline, while tame inflation data pressured the New Zealand
dollar as it made a case for a delay in monetary tightening.
The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> rose 0.9 percent, reversing some of Monday's
2.3 percent fall that followed news of the charges filed by the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Wall
Street titan Goldman Sachs.
Regional energy <.MIAPJEN00PUS>, financial <MIAPJFN00PUS>
and industrial <.MIAPJIN00PUS> stocks were among the big
gainers.
"We think earnings have been good, valuations are in the
middle of the historical range of the last 15 years," said
Khiem Do, head of the Asia multi-asset group at Baring Asset
Management which oversees $50 billion.
Thomson Reuters data showed that 83 percent of Standard &
Poor's 50 <.SPX> firms so far have beaten expectations for the
first quarter. That compares to 61 percent for a typical
quarter.
"The Goldman concerns had an impact on U.S. financials but
I don't know what that has to do with Asian financials," Khiem
Do said while adding the previous day's fall was
sentiment-driven.
RECEDING FEARS
The Goldman news initially sparked fears of wider
crackdowns at a time when regulators across the world are
tightening their grip on the way banks' conduct their business,
those fears have since receded.
A report the SEC had split 3-2 along party lines to approve
an enforcement case against Goldman Sachs showed it was not a
clear-cut decision and triggered a rally on Wall Street that
was also inspired by upbeat earnings from Citigroup <C.N>.
"We have the G20 later this week and it feels like
regulators and politicians are going to be looking to tighten
up control on banks, so it's hard to see much recovery in
stocks and it could be a bit of a choppy trading week." said
Gerrard Katz, regional head of FX trading at Standard Chartered
in Hong Kong.
The civil lawsuit filed by the SEC may not open the
floodgates for similar enforcement actions of its kind as some
believe might happen. []
And ironically, the market is now shifting its attention to
Goldman's blowout earnings that are expected to give the rally
a fresh leg-up.
Among other companies reporting this week are Coca-Cola
<KO.N>, Apple <AAPL.O>, United Technologies <UTX.N> and Johnson
& Johnson <JNJ.N>.
Greece will also be in focus as the debt-stricken nation
aims to raise 1.5 billion euros ($2.0 billion) via auction of
3-month T-bills on April 20 amid stubbornly high borrowing
costs that may force it ask for aid from its euro zone peers
and the IMF.
MONETARY POLICY
The Australian dollar jumped and the New Zealand dollar
eased as investors took opposite views on the monetary policy
direction for the currencies' respective economies.
The Aussie <AUD=> rose 0.3 percent to $0.9283, while the
kiwi <NZD=> fell 0.5 percent to $0.7102 after the inflation
data.
Reserve Bank of Australia minutes showed members felt it
was not prudent to delay a hike given an expected boom in the
country's terms of trade.
In New Zealand, inflation data backed views the central
bank would be in no hurry to hike rates before the middle of
the year.
On the other hand, inflation was a cause for concern for
two of the biggest economies in the region, and central bank
actions to contain rising prices were likely to hurt
performance of stocks, HSBC said in a report.
"The combination of slowing momentum, rising rates and
structural worries on China and India will not be helpful for
equities," it said in a report.
"We expect Asian equities to rise over coming quarters as
long as growth comes through but to continue to lag global
equities," it said, while adding that markets such as
Australia, Malaysia and India, where the central banks have
raised rates, had underperformed the region.
India's stock markets extended gains after the central bank
raised the benchmark interest rates by 25 basis points, which
was less aggressive than the 50 bps increase some had expected.
Asia's third-largest economy is set to grow at 8.5 percent
in the current financial year and 9 percent the following year,
in sharp contrast with the Western world's anaemic growth
outlook.
(Additional reporting by Charlotte Cooper in TOKYO)
(Editing by Kazunori Takada)
