* MSCI Asia ex-Japan stocks index up for 5 straight days
* Rate cuts seen this week from Australia, Britain, euro
zone
* Global economic data reflects rapid slowdown
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By Kevin Plumberg
HONG KONG, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Asian stocks edged up for a
fifth straight day on Monday on hopes policy efforts so far to
dampen the impact of the financial crisis would ultimately take
hold, though data still painted an ugly picture of the global
economy.
Investors were also cautiously shopping for bargains after
shares and commodity prices globally in October posted their
biggest decline ever on fears of a deep recession in the world
economy.
Expectations of more interest rate cuts this week from
Australia, Britain and the euro zone following last week's
reductions from China, India, Japan and the United States among
others has at the least slowed the panicked selling of risky
assets that dominated most of October.
"It seems that external factors are improving somewhat,
particularly in terms of sentiment," said Kim Seung-han, a
market analyst at HI Investment & Securities in Seoul.
The scramble from equities, commodities and local currency
emerging market bonds in October had poured money into yen,
U.S. Treasuries and the U.S. dollar, which had its largest
monthly in gain in 17 years. These trends were not expected to
reverse any time soon, but investors were taking the relative
calm in markets to balance their portfolios.
The MSCI index of stocks in the Asia-Pacific region outside
Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> rose 4.2 percent, up for a fifth
consecutive session after having dropped 24.6 percent in
October for its biggest monthly decline in the gauge's 20-year
history.
The benchmark KOSPI in South Korea <> gained 2.5
percent, boosted by details on a $11 billion government fiscal
stimulus package that officials said would add a full
percentage point to total output.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index <> climbed 3.8 percent, led
by solid gains in shares of heavyweights like China Mobile
<0941.HK>, HSBC <0005.HK> and ICBC <1398.HK> that had been
hammered in the last month.
Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.
The parade of rate cuts from Beijing to Washington and
massive amounts of U.S. dollar liquidity flooding the financial
system have pulled lower lending rates between banks and even
improved investor sentiment, despite the strong potential for
higher unemployment and softer consumer spending around the
world.
Growth in Korean exports was at a 13-month low in October,
hurt by crimped demand from both developed and emerging
markets. The report was the first big Asian economy to report
trade data for last month, likely previewing weakness in the
region's biggest sore spot because of the global slowdown:
exports.
Crude prices rose slightly, with dealers taking cues from
equities and the U.S. dollar. U.S. light crude for December
delivery <CLc1> inched up 38 cents to $68.20 a barrel.
Gold in the spot market <XAU=> was trading at $726.75 an
ounce, up $2.70 from New York's notional close on Friday,
having risen as high as $728.95 an ounce.
"It appears the systemic risk that supported gold through
the heat of the credit crisis has been alleviated somewhat by
the action of the world's central bankers, however, it has not
totally vanished," UBS analyst Glyn Lawcock said in a report on
Monday.
"The risks in the global financial markets are a clear and
present danger and subsequently, gold and gold equities will be
of interest to a number of investors," he said.
The U.S. dollar was slightly higher against the yen but
down against the euro, with investors bracing for another round
of interest rate cuts this week by the world's major central
banks.
The dollar was at 99 yen, up from around 98.45 yen <JPY=>
late in New York on Friday. The euro was at $1.2832 <EUR=>, up
from $1.2730 on Friday.
U.S. Treasury prices were mostly unchanged, though the
benchmark 10-year note rose 4/32 <US10YT=RR>, pushing the yield
down to 3.96 percent from 3.97 percent on Friday.
In the last week, the difference of the 10-year yield over
the 2-year yield, also called the yield curve, has increased,
especially after the Federal Reserve left the door open for
more rate cuts to stabilise the economy.
(Additional reporting by Park Jung-youn in SEOUL and James
Regan in SYDNEY; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
