* Resource shares lift stocks, US jobs data awaits
* U.S. dollar weakness is the global focus
* Australia dollar at 27-year high after strong jobs data
* Gold hits record high above $1,350 an ounce
* Samsung's dour guidance weighs on tech sector
By Kevin Plumberg
HONG KONG, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Asian stocks steadied on
Thursday after hitting a two-year high, capped by weakness in
the technology sector, while the dollar fell ahead of a U.S.
payrolls report due on Friday.
European shares edged lower in early trade, giving up a
little of the previous two sessions' gains, and ahead of
interest rate decisions and policy indications from the Bank of
England and European Central Bank. The FTSEurofirst 300
<> index of top European shares was down 0.3 percent.
Meetings of the European Central Bank and Bank of England
on Thursday will be watched for any hint that, like the Federal
Reserve and Bank of Japan, policymakers are warming up to using
newly printed money to buy assets.
After data overnight showed U.S. private sector employment
surprisingly shrank in September, the potential has increased
for the official payrolls report to reflect weakness and
accelerate what has become the cheap money trade: sell dollars,
buy bonds, equities and gold. []
This trade has been driven by expectations that the Fed at
its policy meeting next month will shift toward quantitative
easing (QE), effectively flooding the financial system with
cheaply borrowed cash.
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The greater chance of a soft U.S. payrolls number made the
dollar's disadvantages all the more stark, especially after
data showed Australian employment in September was more than
double forecasts, driving the Australian dollar to the highest
against the U.S. dollar in 27 years.
Japan's Nikkei share average <> slipped 0.1 percent,
but was still up around 3 percent on the week. After Tuesday's
unexpected rate cut by the Bank of Japan, the index is
outperforming the U.S. S&P 500 index <.SPX> and the
FTSEurofirst 300 index <>, which are both up 1.2 percent
so far this week.
"The BOJ's easing lifted share prices, but now investors
are focusing on the U.S. jobs data to determine the Fed's next
action," said Nagayuki Yamagishi, a strategist at Mitsubishi
UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities in Tokyo.
The MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan was up
0.28 percent <.MIAPJ0000PUS> to the highest since June 2008.
The 11.6 percent rise in the index last month exceeded the
all-country world index by two percentage points and has been
driven by the consumer discretionary, energy, industrial and
materials sectors.
The technology sector was under pressure on Thursday after
Samsung Electronics Co <005930.KS>, the world's largest memory
chip maker, guided the market's earnings expectations for the
firm lower. Samsung shares fell 2.4 percent and the region's
tech sector slipped 0.6 percent on fears the company's outlook
was foreboding ahead of results due next week from Intel
<INTC.O> and Advanced Micro Devices <AMD.N>. []
Investors remain focused on the U.S. dollar, which fell 8.5
percent against a basket of major currencies <=USD> in the last
quarter.
Goldman Sachs analysts revised their forecasts for the
dollar downward, expecting Asian currencies to shoulder more of
the burden of currency strength in coming months.
"The combination of weaker growth, more QE, FX policy
pressure on Asia for more currency appreciation and widening
external imbalances all point in the same direction: broad USD
weakness. And this is likely to remain the dominant theme," the
analysts said in a note.
The euro has benefited from the dollar's weakness and hit
an eight-month high of $1.3949 overnight. It was testing those
highs, changing hands at $1.3940 <EUR=>.
The dollar was trading at 82.80 yen <JPY=>, not far from
the 15-year low of 82.75 yen plumbed on Wednesday.
Precious metals have been other beneficiaries of dollar
weakness. Gold jumped to an all-time high of $1,356.40 an ounce
<XAU=> after Vietnam's central bank said it may allow imports
of the metal if prices keep rising.
(Additional reporting by Chikafumi Hodo in TOKYO)
