* U.S. crude passes 2009 high of $75; gold at record high
* MSCI Asia Pacific stocks index (ex Japan) at 14-mth high
* China exports and imports surprise to the upside
By Kevin Plumberg
HONG KONG, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar struck a
14-month low against the euro on Wednesday, sending gold to
record prices and pushing oil past the 2009 high of $75 a
barrel and on track for a fifth day of gains.
Buoyant commodity prices supported Australian stocks, while
Asian stocks traded outside Japan rose to the highest since
early August for a second day, driven by gains in the energy
and technology sectors.
A surprisingly bullish outlook overnight from Intel
<INTC.O>, the world's biggest chip company, lifted U.S. stock
futures 0.9 percent. []
Furthermore, improvements in Chinese export and import data
for September as well as a surprising rise in copper imports
boded well for the rest of the year.
"Overall, export performance will be much better in the
months to come," said Dong Tao, an economist with Credit Suisse
in Hong Kong.
"I think it's going to be sustainable and it's going to
accelerate. There are some rush orders coming to China for
Christmas, so I expect probably a pretty strong rebound in
November and December." [][]
However, there were still reasons to be cautious about
near-term economic and corporate prospects.
Federal Reserve Vice-Chairman Donald Kohn said in a speech
the recovery will not be V-shaped, healthcare giant Johnson &
Johnson <JNJ.N> posted disappointing quarterly revenue and
closely watched independent analyst Meredith Whitney downgraded
her view on Goldman Sachs <GS.N> two days before the bank's
results.
DOLLAR WEAKNESS TO PERSIST
The dollar dropped 0.5 percent against the yen to 89.25 yen
<JPY=>, and the euro climbed 0.2 percent to $1.4880 <EUR=>, the
highest since August 2008.
Naoki Minezaki, a senior vice finance minister in Japan,
told Reuters that yen strength is due to dollar weakness which
will likely persist, and the government should not intervene in
markets just because the yen is rising. []
The ICE Futures U.S. dollar index was down 0.4 percent
<.DXY> on the day and has declined 14 percent since March, when
a global equity rally signaled an economic turning point and
prompted investors to shift out of safe assets denominated in
dollars.
The weak dollar has been a boost to commodity prices across
the board.
U.S. light crude for November delivery rose 1.21 percent to
$75.05 a barrel <CLc1>. Brent was up 1.19 percent to $73.25
<LCOc1>.
Edible oil <KPOc3> and copper prices <MCU3> turned positive
on year-on-year basis earlier this month.
Gold prices in the spot market rose to a record high of
$1,063.90 an ounce <XAU=>, up 22 percent so far this year.
In equities, the MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks outside
Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> rose 1.2 percent to the highest since
August 12, 2008.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index <> rose 1 percent, driven
by energy-related shares and a 2 percent rise on Shanghai's
composite index <>.
Japan's Nikkei share average <> bucked the trend and
slipped 0.25 percent after a five-day rising streak.
"It'll be hard to try above these levels until investors
see apparent signs of improvement in the corporate earnings
outlooks for the next business year," said Kenichi Hirano,
operating officer at Tachibana Securities in Tokyo.
(Additional reporting by Aiko Hayashi and Tetsushi Kajimoto
in TOKYO; Editing by David Fox)
