* Nikkei falls 1.6 percent, MSCI Asia ex-Japan off 0.3
percent
* Euro retreats from 4-month high as Portugal vote looms
* Yen sticks close to 81 per dollar
* Brent crude rises above $116 a barrel
By Alex Richardson
SINGAPORE, March 23 (Reuters) - Asian shares fell on
Wednesday, with Tokyo's Nikkei shedding more than 1 percent, and
oil rose as investors worried about Japan's nuclear crisis in
Japan, violence in Libya and unrest in the Middle East.
The euro hovered below a 4-1/2-month high as worries about
debt problems in Portugal and Ireland halted its recent gains,
while the yen hugged a tight range near 81 to the dollar
amid caution about further central bank intervention.
Portugal's parliament was due to vote on the minority
Socialist government's latest austerity measures on Wednesday,
with Prime Minister Jose Socrates threatening to resign if the
opposition rejects the proposals.
Japan's Nikkei fell 1.6 percent as investors took
profits from a two-session bounce. Japanese stocks remain around
8 percent below their close on March 11, the day northeast Japan
was struck by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and 10-metre tsunami.
The disaster left more than 21,000 people dead or missing,
crippled a nuclear power plant that has been leaking radiation
and hit production at major companies such as Sony Corp
and Toyota Motor .
"It's not that the market is ignoring fundamentals," said
Takashi Hiroki, chief strategist at Monex Inc.
"We just simply don't know them yet, as many companies are
still gathering information about damage sustained during the
disasters."
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
fell 0.3 percent, mirroring falls on Wall
Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.2
percent and the S&P 500 fell 0.4 percent.
"It's fairly evident that while we have had added strength
in our market, there is still caution out there, with the view
that markets are not going to race up in any great hurry," said
Jamie Spiteri, senior dealer at Shaw Stockbroking in Australia.
Uncertainty about the nuclear disaster and the final human
and economic cost of the earthquake and tsunami supported
Japanese government bonds, with benchmark 10-year futures
rising 0.30 point to 139.70, which the 10-year yield
<JP10YTN=JBTC fell 2 basis points to 1.225 percent.
The incident is likely to slow Japan's economic growth, so
markets are expected to factor this in," said Akito Fukunaga,
chief fixed-income strategist at RBS Securities.
"I think the influence of the economic slowdown surpasses
worries over Japan's fiscal position in the JGB markets."
PORTUGAL CRISIS
The euro traded around $1.4165 , off a four-month high
near $1.4250 reached on Tuesday.
"If Prime Minister Socrates steps down, Portugal will likely
ask the European Union and the IMF for help, which is likely to
trigger a bit of euro selling," said Junya Tanase, chief
strategist at JPMorgan Chase Bank in Tokyo.
Also weighing on the euro were rumours that Allied Irish
Banks , which has been effectively nationalised, was
planning to miss a coupon payment, driving the premium that
investors demand to hold Irish 2-year bonds to a euro-era high.
AIB said in a statement it would pay the coupon due on
Wednesday as scheduled.
The yen remained little moved over the past 24 hours, with
traders wary the Bank of Japan might step in again if the dollar
falls below 80.50, following Friday's rare market intervention
by leading central banks to curb the currency's strength.
Last week, expectations the cost of quake reconstruction
would prompt insurance firms and others in Japan -- a big net
creditor to the rest of the world -- to repatriate yen drove the
Japanese currency to a record 76.25 per dollar before the Group
of Seven launched the first coordinated intervention since 2000.
Oil crept higher, as fighting in producer Libya and unrest
in Yemen fuelled worries of supply disruptions.
U.S. crude was up 0.2 percent at $105.15 a barrel and
Brent crude gaining 0.4 percent to $116.14. Spot gold
was steady around $1,428.50 an ounce.
