* Selling pressure to continue in the near term
* MSCI Asia underperforms MSCI world by more than 4 ppts
* Metals gain on strong U.S. jobless data
By Saikat Chatterjee
HONG KONG, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Asian stocks fell on Friday
and were on course for their biggest weekly loss in nine months,
as investors shunned risk on concerns about the pace of policy
tightening within the region and escalating tensions in Egypt.
A broad sell-off in Asia since the start of 2011 on
inflationary worries has shown no signs of abating, as worries
about the scale of monetary tightening has encouraged the
continuing rotation out of emerging and into developed markets.
Analysts said the selling pressure could have some more room
to run, especially in countries where markets are ripe for a
pullback after last year's stellar gains and the near term
outlook for more monetary tightening is unclear.
On Friday, Seoul shares gained after the central
bank surprised markets by leaving rates unchanged while
Australia's benchmark index snapped a seven-day winning
streak a investors took profits from banking and resource
shares.
MSCI's index of Asia Pacific shares-ex-Japan
is set to fall by more than 3 percent this week, its worst
performance since the Greek debt crisis erupted in May 2010.
So far this year, Asian shares have underperformed the MSCI
world index by more than 4 percentage points
amid frothy valuations in some markets in South and Southeast
Asia and a drip of strong data out of the United States.
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Market Signals PDF on Indonesia: http://r.reuters.com/xyv87r
Graphic on exchanges http://r.reuters.com/gut87r
U.S. jobless data
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"Pressure on emerging market equities may well, therefore,
continue while uncertainties about the intensity, duration and
effect of the ongoing tightening cycle remain alive," Barclays
strategists said in a weekly note.
This week alone, China raised interest rates, Philippines
held rates but raised its inflation forecast and Bank of Korea
surprised markets by holding rates steady.
Foreign selling has picked up in Asian shares, especially in
South Korea this week while offshore selling in Taiwan on
Thursday was its biggest in six months.
Indonesian shares fell 0.4 percent with shares in PT
Garuda Indonesia , the nation's state-owned carrier,
tanking by more than 20 percent on debut.
Japanese markets were closed for a national holiday.
METALS GAIN
Copper rose back above $10,000 per tonne, while tin
prices hit a record high as strong U.S. jobless data reassured
investors about the pace of the recovery in the world's biggest
economy. .
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's plans to relinquish
powers but not step down did little to boost investor hopes of a
quick solution to the Egyptian crisis and gave a small leg up
to oil prices.
Gold , was steady at around $1,364 an ounce and U.S.
crude oil futures rose 88 cents to $87.61 a barrel. .
In the currency markets, the dollar edged higher after
notching up solid gains against the euro overnight, after
traders said the European Central Bank stepped in to rescue a
failing Portuguese bond auction. .
Broad trading patterns in the euro are in line with
wave formations and the single currency may be in the initial
stages of what may be a decline towards the lower end of a broad
1.3250-1.3850 range.
"Any easy gains in the EUR are susceptible to rapid
reversal," said David Watt, senior currency strategist at RBC
Dominion Securities.
The Australian dollar extended losses after the
central bank said interest rates were likely to be on hold for
some time. .
(Additional reporting by Ian Chua, Reuters FX analyst Krishna
Kumar in SYDNEY and Nick Trevethan in SINGAPORE; Editing by Alex
Richardson)
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