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* Asian shares recover from losses; Japan up 4.3 pct
* Oil sustains gains after near 4 pct rally on Thursday
* Yen edges up amid caution, rebounds from Thursday tumble
By Rafael Nam
HONG KONG, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Asian shares rallied and oil
held on to gains on Friday as this week's sharp losses were
seen as excessive even as signals continued to flash 'danger'
for the global economy ahead of a G20 meeting this weekend.
Some regional bonds fell but, in a sign of the caution
gripping markets, the yen recovered from Thursday's sharp fall
to edge up against the dollar and the euro as investors tiptoed
back to the perceived safety of the Japanese currency.
"In the overall market tone, the anxiety of the financial
market turmoil has not disappeared. So market demand for the
dollar and the yen driven by flight-to-safety will likely
remain," said Yousuke Hosokawa, senior manager at Chuo Mitsui
Trust and Banking in Japan.
"The market just can't brush away its worries about issues
such as how large the losses by U.S. financial corporations
will be and whether the $700 billion U.S. bailout plan will
suffice."
The MSCI index of Asian stocks outside Japan
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> was up 3 percent at 0304 GMT, marking its first
gain in four sessions.
The gains came despite bleak signals on the global economy,
which provide a bad omen for export-dependent Asia. Leaders of
the G20 industrialised and emerging nations will gather in
Washington late on Friday to discuss the economic crisis.
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Data on Thursday showed U.S. workers drawing jobless
benefits hit a 25-year high this month, while imports to the
world's biggest economy suffered a record fall in September.
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Elsewhere, Germany fell into recession in the third
quarter, data on Thursday showed, while the Organisation for
Economic Cooperation and Development slashed its economic
output forecasts for major economies and said the 30-nation
OECD appeared to have entered a recession. []
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Still, with share prices falling in the past three
sessions, investors looked for beaten-up stocks. The MSCI Asia
ex-Japan index fell 11.4 percent over the prior three sessions.
Japan's Nikkei average <> led gains in the region with
a 4.3 percent advance. Hong Kong's key index <> rallied 3.5
percent, markets in Australia <> and Singapore <.FTSTI>
gained around 2 percent each, with South Korea <.KS>, Taiwan
<> and Shanghai <> notching gains of over 1 percent.
CAUTION REMAINS
Oil prices held on to gains after jumping nearly 4 percent
on Thursday as OPEC seemed poised to cut production later this
month, and a rebound in U.S. stocks bolstered risk appetite.
U.S. crude <CLc1> was up 47 cents at $58.71 a barrel.
Some metals also gained, with platinum <XPT=> up $16.5 to
$838 an ounce, but gold <XAU=> fell about $6 to $728.80, giving
up some of Thursday's sharp gains.
Analysts cautioned against expecting a sustained rally in
global markets, after a volatile week that has included
uncertainty about a U.S. Treasury plan to forgo buying bad
mortgage-related investments to buy stakes in U.S. lenders.
"Yesterday was a bit overdone, and today will be a bit
overdone in the opposite direction," said Hans Kunnen, head of
investment markets research at Colonial First State Fund
Managers in Australia
The dollar fell 0.6 percent to 97.11 yen <JPY=>. The euro
dipped 0.8 percent to 123.85 yen on trading platform EBS
<EURJPY=EBS> after rising as high as 125.72 in early trade.
The single European currency edged down 0.2 percent to
$1.2750 <EUR=>.
The euro zone is set to release third-quarter economic
growth numbers later on Friday and economists expect the data
to show the region is already at the start of a recession.
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