Asia markets lifted by upbeat data; yen eases

By Lisa Twaronite and Wayne Cole

TOKYO/SYDNEY (Reuters) - Upbeat factory data from around the globe powered Asian markets on Tuesday, while gold and the yen lost some of their safe-haven appeal as the U.S. delayed a possible strike on Syria.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.7 percent, building on Monday's 1.2 percent rise and on track for a fourth day of gains.

Japan's Nikkei stock average <.N225> surged 2.5 percent, and the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 0.6 percent.

Gold eased about 0.2 percent to $1,392.26 an ounce as investors rediscovered an appetite for risk, while the dollar hit a one-month high against a basket of currencies as well as the yen. The greenback bought as much as 99.705 yen, and the dollar index rose as high as 82.331, also underpinned by expectations for U.S. monetary policy.

"I expect the dollar to be supported amid expectations that the Federal Reserve will start tapering its quantitative easing," said Kyosuke Suzuki, director of forex at Societe Generale in Tokyo.

Traders expect the Fed to start reducing its stimulus at its policy meeting on September 17-18, unless U.S. payroll numbers due on Friday fall short of forecasts.

Later on Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia will announce the results of its monthly policy meeting and is widely expected to hold rates steady, having cut to a record low of 2.5 percent in August.

Prospects for the global economy have brightened considerably according to a new round of purchasing managers' surveys for August, lifting shares.

While Wall Street was closed for the Labor Day holiday on Monday, U.S. stock futures posted solid gains with the S&P 500 contract up 0.9 percent. Broad gains across European bourses lifted MSCI's world equity index 0.6 percent.

Factory activity in the euro zone rose at its fastest pace in more than two years, and even manufacturing in struggling Spain grew for the first time since April 2011.

The UK's version of the survey far outstripped expectations and sent sterling up 0.1 percent to $1.5551 as the market brought forward the likely timing of the first rate hike there in years.

All of this reinforced the impact of China's PMI, which showed activity in the country's vast manufacturing sector was at its highest in more than a year.

A reading on China's non-manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) released on Tuesday dipped slightly to 53.9 last month from July's 54.1 to stand at the same level as in June, but remained solidly above the threshold indicating expansion.

That continued to underpin commodities, though copper prices gave back some of the previous session's 2 percent rise, shedding 0.2 percent to $7,225.25 a tonne.

Markets were also unwinding many of last week's safe-haven trades as worries about an imminent military strike against Syria abated after U.S. President Barack Obama decided to seek congressional approval.

Obama's efforts to persuade Congress to back his plan met with scepticism on Monday from lawmakers in his own Democratic Party, who expressed concern the United States would be dragged into a new Middle East conflict.

U.S. crude oil prices slipped 0.9 percent to $106.65 a barrel, while Brent lost 0.2 percent to $114.16.

(Additional reporting by Hideyuki sano in Tokyo; Editing by Eric Meijer)