* Cautious optimism before long weekend on fate of Lehman
* MSCI Asia ex-Japan index rebounds from 23-month low
By Kevin Plumberg
HONG KONG, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Asian stocks rose on Friday,
with shares outside of Japan rebounding from a 23-month low on
reports Lehman Brothers had put itself up for sale, suggesting
a smaller risk of a Wall Street meltdown spreading to the
region.
Oil prices edged up above $103 a barrel, supported by fears
Hurricane Ike could disrupt U.S. production, but crude remained
on course to fall below the psychologically important $100
level, especially with the euro falling to a one-year low
against the dollar this week.
Gains in Japanese bank stocks such as Mitsubishi UFJ
Financial Group <8306.T> outpaced the broad indexes on optimism
that Lehman, whose shares plunged more than 40 percent on
Thursday, would find a suitor by this weekend.
The U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve are reportedly
engineering the sale of Lehman through a consortium of private
firms, the Washington Post said. []
"We have reports about Lehman's buyout talks today, and
that is positive because that means the number of ailing
entities will decrease through an industry realignment," said
Masaru Hamasaki, senior strategist at Toyota Asset Management
in Tokyo.
Japan's Nikkei share average <> rose 1.1 percent,
rebounding from a six-month low.
The MSCI index of other Asia-Pacific stocks <.MIAPJ0000PUS>
climbed 0.9 percent after closing at its lowest since October
2006.
South Korea's KOSPI rose 1.4 percent, led by shares of
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd <005930.KS> and POSCO <005490.KS>,
the world's No. 4 steelmaker.
Many investors were in wait-and-see mode ahead of any
developments with Lehman, though in the thick of the financial
crisis, any progress has been followed with signs of trouble at
other institutions.
Indeed, Washington Mutual Inc <WM.N>, the largest U.S.
savings and loan, was downgraded to below investment-grade
status by Moody's Investors Service on Friday, citing
constraints to tapping capital markets.
Impatience with the persistent problems in the financial
sector as well as a global economic slowdown that is hitting
European and Japan hard has led to a reduction in risk taking
in just about every asset class. This so-called deleveraging
has provided a boost to the U.S. dollar as U.S. investors bring
some money back home from abroad.
Institutional investors have been ploughing money back into
the dollar. In the last month, cross-border flows into the
dollar have been in the 94th percentile, meaning they have been
higher only 6 percent of the time, according to State Street
Global Markets, which tracks 15 percent of the world's
tradeable assets.
In the wake of U.S. bailout of government sponsored
enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this week,
analysts at State Street expect foreign central banks to
continue to add to their immense foreign exchange reserves and
recycle the proceeds into Treasury debt.
"The GSE bail out adds a whole new dimension to global
imbalances. It is also perhaps no coincidence that the one
asset that has been rising in recent days is the U.S. dollar,"
they said in a note.
The euro was down 0.2 percent to $1.3995 <EUR=> after
hitting a one-year low around $1.3880 the prior session.
The dollar was relatively unchanged against the yen, at
107.12 yen <JPY=>.
However, the euro continued to feel pressure from the yen.
It was down 0.2 percent to 149.95 yen <EURJPY=>, after tumbling
to a two-year low on Thursday.
The October U.S. light crude contract was up 43 cents to
$101.30 a barrel <CLc1> after falling as low as $100.10
overnight.
(Additional reporting by Aiko Hayashi in TOKYO; Editing by
Lincoln Feast)
