* Stunning German GDP boosts euro, stocks
* Yen softens a touch but still in sight of 15-year highs
* Traders on guard against yen intervention
* Asian stocks up after the week's heavy selling
(Repeats to more subscribers)
By Koh Gui Qing
SYDNEY, Aug 13 (Reuters) - The euro jumped and Asian stocks
extended gains on Friday after stunning German data showed
Europe's biggest economy grew at its fastest pace in 23 years,
alleviating some doubts about the strength of global growth.
The euro <EUR=> and S&P futures <SPc1> jumped after
Germany's economy was shown to have grown 2.2 percent last
quarter, driven by exports and investment. [] The
euro climbed as far as $1.2902.
The dazzling data, which handily beat forecasts for a 1.3
percent rise, lifted European stocks 0.5-0.8 percent higher at
open. []
"The German economy is booming thanks to global demand,"
said Andreas Scheuerle, an analyst at Dekabank in Germany. "I
can see 3 percent growth this year, even a bit more than 3
percent."
By late afternoon, the MSCI index for Asian stocks outside
Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> was up 1.2 percent.
Germany's remarkable growth report turned the spot light
away from the yen, which shunned 15-year peaks on Friday,
daunted by talk that Tokyo may intervene to curb its strength.
Swirling talk that Tokyo will weaken the yen by undertaking
more quantitative easing kept the dollar off a 15-year trough
of 84.72 <JPY=> hit on Wednesday.
The retreat in the yen, which had zoomed up by as much as
3.9 percent before all the talk of intervention, mirrored
similar pull-backs in other assets that were over-bought or
over-sold this week when investors vexed about global growth
prospects.
But some analysts warned the market cheer may not last. A
raft of U.S. data including consumer confidence and consumer
prices are due later, and investors fear they may disappoint.
South Korea's stock market <> was the best performer,
climbing 1.4 percent from one-month lows, led by technology
stocks such as Samsung Electronics <005930.KS>.
For the week however, the MSCI index was still down 2.6
percent, its worse performance in six weeks.
Indeed, data from EPFR showed stocks was not a popular
investment choice right now, with investors preferring bonds
and money market funds instead. []
Firm Asian stocks and a soft U.S. dollar helped oil prices
to climb $1 to above $76, recouping some of the week's heavy
selling. []
YEN INTERVENTION NIGH?
By late afternoon, the dollar was a touch firmer on the yen
at 86.11, up from 85.84 in New York.
Fervent speculation on when and how Tokyo will try to
weaken the yen got a boost following a report that said Japan's
prime minister will meet its central bank chief to discuss
possible intervention. []
But some analysts doubted a direct market intervention was
on the cards and argued instead the Bank of Japan 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."
U.S. crude <CLc1> for September delivery rose as much as $1
on Thursday after a 7 percent tumble in the past three days
that took prices to their lowest since July 19.
(Additional reporting by Adrian Bathgate in WELLINGTON and
Wayne Cole in SYDNEY; Editing by Kazunori Takada)
