* Asian shares pare earlier gains; Nikkei ends up 2.7 pct
* MSCI Asia-Pac ex-Japan index down about 8 pct for week
* Oil rally wanes, yen edges up amid continued caution
* U.S. Treasuries rise, G20 meeting awaited
(Adds European outlook, updates prices)
By Rafael Nam
HONG KONG, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Asian shares rose on Friday
as this week's sharp losses were seen as excessive, but a rally
in oil fizzled and the yen edged up as signals flashed 'danger'
for the global economy before the G20 meeting this weekend.
European shares were set to pick up the baton from Asia
with Britain's FTSE 100 <> seen opening up as much as 3.9
percent and key indexes in Germany <> and France <>
seen up more than 4 percent each.
But in a sign of how caution still remained, Asian shares
pared earlier stronger gains, while U.S. Treasuries edged up
amid doubts about the sustainability of the latest jump in
equities.
"It's very underwhelming today," said Peter Wright, dealer
at Burrell & Co in Australia.
"Ordinarily you might have expected the market to
potentially be up the similar magnitude it was down yesterday,
but this shows just how rattled investors are, which is very
rattled."
The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> was up 1.6 percent at 0655 GMT, marking its
first gain in four sessions but paring gains earlier of as much
as 3.2 percent.
Still, the index was down about 8 percent for the week as
of late trade, and headed for its first weekly loss in three.
The gains came despite bleak signals on the global economy,
which provide a bad omen for export-dependent Asia. Leaders of
the Group of 20 industrialised and emerging nations will gather
in Washington late on Friday to discuss the economic crisis.
[]
Data on Thursday showed U.S. workers drawing initial
jobless benefits hit a 25-year high this month, while imports
to the world's biggest economy suffered a record fall in
September. []
Elsewhere, Germany fell into recession in the third
quarter, data on Thursday showed, while the euro zone is set to
release third-quarter economic growth numbers later on Friday
that are expected to show it too is in recession.
[]
"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.
Still, with share prices falling in the past three
sessions, investors looked for beaten-up stocks.
Japan's Nikkei <> was among the leading gainers in the
region with a 2.7 percent advance, though it had earlier risen
as much as 5.5 percent.
Hong Kong's key index <> and Shanghai <> gained
more than 3 percent each. Markets in Australia <> and
Singapore <.FTSTI> gained more than 1 percent each, and Taiwan
<> edged up 0.3 percent.
But South Korea <> was flat, while India's BSE index
<> dropped 2 percent.
CAUTION REMAINS
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.
Earlier gains in oil prices fizzled late in Asian trade
after jumping nearly 4 percent on Thursday when investors had
bet OPEC was poised to cut production later this month. After
initial gains on Friday, U.S. crude <CLc1> was down 42 cents at
$57.82 by late Asian trade.
Gold <XAU=> fell about $7 to $727.90, after posting its
largest daily percentage gain in more than a week in the
previous day, though some of the other metals gained.
In another sign of caution, the yen edged up on Friday,
recovering from a sharp fall the previous day, as investors
tip-toed back to the perceived safety of the Japanese currency
amid concerns over the global credit crisis.
The dollar fell 0.6 percent to 97.10 yen <JPY=> after
having jumped as high as 98.30 yen on Thursday. The euro dipped
0.9 percent to 123.62 yen on trading platform EBS <EURJPY=EBS>.
U.S. Treasuries edged higher as well, though trading was
muted. The benchmark 10-year note <US10YT=RR> rose 4/32 in
price to yield 3.835 percent, down 2 basis points from late New
York trade on Thursday.
(Additional reporting by Kaori Kaneko in TOKYO; Denny Thomas
and Mette Fraende in SYDNEY; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
