* Yen softens a touch but still in sight of 15-year highs
* Traders on guard against yen intervention
* Asian stocks edges up after the week's heavy selling
* But still on track for worse performance in five weeks
(Repeats to more subscribers)
By Koh Guiqing
SYDNEY, Aug 13 (Reuters) - The yen inched further away from
15-year peaks on Friday as talk swirled that Japan's
authorities may soon intervene to curb it, while Asian stocks
edged up to claw back some of the week's heavy losses.
After a week of sharp moves in the market on global growth
angst, some analysts said steady prices on Friday was a normal
snap back from over-sold or over-bought regions.
Yet, they warned in the same breadth the lull may not last,
especially given Friday's ream of U.S. data releases. U.S.
retail sales, consumer confidence and consumer prices are due
later and markets fear disappointment <ECON>.
"The market had probably been pretty oversold although
given the sentiment out there and the week we've had, there's a
risk things could drift heading into the afternoon," said
Cameron Peacock, an equity analyst at IG Markets in Sydney.
The dollar nudged up to 86.02 yen <JPY=>, up from 85.84 in
New York, but still in sight of a 15-year trough of 84.72 hit
on Wednesday.
Likewise, Asian stocks, which had taken a beating this
week, got some reprieve early Friday. The MSCI index for Asian
stocks outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> nudged up 0.25 percent.
For the week however, it was still down 3.2 percent, its
worse performance in five weeks.
South Korea's stock index <> led regional gains,
rising 0.5 percent from one-month lows, helped by technology
stocks such as LG Electronics <066570.KS>.
Oil prices <CLc1> also snapped back after a week of heavy
selling. U.S. crude futures rose to above $76 a barrel having
shed 7 percent in the past three sessions.
YEN INTERVENTION NIGH?
Japan's Nikkei average <> was a laggard among Asian
stocks with a 0.4 percent drop, no doubt hurt in part by the
strong yen, which squeezes Japan's mainstay exporters.
Export powerhouses such as Sony Corp <6758.T> fell 0.7
percent, and Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> lost 0.5 percent. Honda
Motor Co <7267.T> retreated 1.1 percent.
A local report that Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Bank of
Japan (BOJ) Governor Masaaki Shirakawa may meet next week to
discuss possible action to deal with the strong yen made
traders wary of pushing the currency higher for now
[].
But speculation of how Japanese authorities may intervene
raged on. Talk that authorities may choose outright sales of
yen for dollars got a boost after the BOJ confirmed on Thursday
it had checked currency rates that day.
But some analysts doubted a direct market intervention was
on the cards and argued instead the BOJ may opt for more
quantitative easing.
"The Japanese authorities have no appetite for FX
intervention," analysts at JPMorgan said.
"Not only do they doubt the efficacy of intervention, but
yen-selling would be difficult to justify, given strong G7
rhetoric against currency manipulation," they wrote in a note
to clients. "It is politically unpopular given the magnitude of
the losses on Japan's foreign currency reserve."
(Reporting by Koh Gui Qing; Editing by Kazunori Takada)
