By Tom Miles
HONG KONG, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Asian stocks edged higher on
Tuesday after strong results from LG.Philips LCD <034220.KS>
and Samsung Electronics <005930.KS> lightened the mood ahead of
big U.S. bank earnings due later this week.
Gold traded at around $908 an ounce in Asia after powering
to a life-high of $914 on Monday.
MSCI's measure of Asia Pacific stocks excluding Japan
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> was up 1 percent by 0220 GMT.
Taiwan stocks <> rose 4.5 percent, extending a rally
from the previous session on hopes for improved China ties
after weekend legislative elections. Shares of leading liquid
crystal display (LCD) screen makers AU Optronics <2409.TW> and
Chi Mei <3009.TW> rose after LG.Philips, the world's No.2 LCD
maker, posted record quarterly profits on Monday.
Samsung Electronics, the world's top maker of memory chips
used in gadgets from computers to cameras, rose 2.5 percent
after it posted a smaller-than-expected 7 percent fall in
quarterly profit.
"Samsung Electronics' quarterly results exceeded my
expectations by a significant margin. It looks like Samsung has
moved to improve its product mix and cut costs faster than the
market had expected," said Kim Young-Il, a fund manager at
Hanwha Investment Trust Management.
Japan's Nikkei 225 <> made up ground after Monday's
Coming of Age holiday, when the market was closed, but the
broader Topix <> was down 0.3 percent by 0220 GMT.
Sompo Japan Insurance Inc <8755.T>, the country's
second-largest non-life insurer, tumbled 5.7 percent after
cutting its profit forecast last week, citing losses on
subprime-related assets.
Australian shares were dragged lower by a warning from
Centro Properties Group <CNP.AX> on its liabilities. The
company owns 700 shopping malls in the United States and has
proved a high-profile casualty of the global credit squeeze.
But firmer commodities prices boosted miners and helped lift
the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index <> 0.3 percent by 0225
GMT.
"It's really underwhelming," said Burrell & Co dealer Peter
Wright, noting the market seemed cautious ahead of U.S. data
this week, as well as earnings from major U.S. financial firms,
that will provide more clues about the health of the U.S.
economy.
BANKS UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
Investors are keenly awaiting earnings announcements from
Citigroup <C.N> later on Tuesday, followed by Merrill Lynch
<MER.N> and JPMorgan Chase <JPM.N> later in the week, for clues
on the fallout from the subprime mortgage meltdown and the
possible risk of a U.S. recession.
Concerns that the banks' weak earnings could prompt more
Federal Reserve interest rate cuts kept the dollar under
pressure on Tuesday, near seven-week lows against the yen and
the euro.
Citigroup could write down as much as $24 billion and cut
up to 24,000 jobs, CNBC television said on Monday.
"Those numbers of write-downs and job cuts at Citi could
heighten worries over the bank sector problems and their impact
on the economy, if confirmed," said Kengo Suzuki, currency
strategist at Shinko Securities.
The dollar weakness helped gold hit new highs. Spot gold
<XAU=> was at $980 an ounce by 0230 GMT.
Wall Street rebounded on Monday after the S&P 500 posted
its fourth-worst start of the year in the history of the
benchmark index, with a surprise preliminary earnings report
from IBM <IBM.N>, which eased fears about how much a global
economic slowdown would cut into corporate profits.
More than half of IBM's revenue gains were due to currency
benefits, suggesting other companies with big foreign sales,
such as McDonald's Corp <MCD.N> and Caterpillar Inc <CAT.N>,
could profit from a weakened dollar.
"It would be good to see more results like this, as that
would mean those calling for a recession were doing so
prematurely," said Linda Duessel, market strategist at
Federated Investors in Pittsburgh.
The dollar's weakness also contributed to a rise in crude
oil prices on Monday. U.S. oil <CLc1> rose $1.51 to $94.20 a
barrel.
"We're up on geopolitical concerns, the weaker dollar and
the oversold condition left over from Friday," said Mike
Fitzpatrick, vice president at MF Global.
Crude, which remains below the peak $100.09 struck on Jan.
3, got a boost from comments by U.S. President George W. Bush
against OPEC member Iran. []
By 0230 GMT, in early Asian trade, crude slipped 6 cents to
$94.14.
