Asia shares slip as weak earnings hit Wall St., dollar pressured

By Lisa Twaronite

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares dipped on Friday after weak corporate earnings dented Wall Street, while the dollar nursed its losses after marking its worst monthly performance in four years against a basket of six major currencies.

The dollar index stood at 94.824 in early trade, after skidding roughly 3.7 percent in April and touching a more than two-month low of 94.399 on the final day of the month.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.4.

Friday's activity is likely to be subdued, with some of Asia and much of Europe closed for Labour Day and May Day holidays.

Investors will be focussed on China's official Purchasing Managers' Index report due at 0100 GMT, to gauge the strength of manufacturing activity in the Asian economic powerhouse and the likelihood that the government will take additional stimulus measures.

On Wall Street on Thursday, the three major stock indexes posted modest gains for the month of April, but ended the session with losses over 1 percent after weak earnings reports. <.N>

Upbeat U.S. economic data also revived expectations that U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers will consider raising interest rates, after a drop in U.S. jobless claims, a rise in consumer spending, wage gains and a jump in Midwest business activity suggested the economy is showing signs of recovery.

"Our view remains that September is a more likely time for the first rate hike, but we expect several on the committee to argue for a rate hike in June," strategists at Barclays wrote in a note to clients.

Japan's Nikkei stock index <.N225> was down 0.3 percent in early trading.

A spate of Japanese economic data released before the market open showed consumer inflation rose slight more than forecast, while the jobless rate and household spending both fell.

Against the Japanese currency, the dollar edged up about 0.1 percent to 119.55 yen , above an overnight low of 118.50 yen.

The euro was flat on the day at $1.1215 , close to Thursday's two-month high of $1.1267.

Underpinning the single currency, Greece made its biggest concessions yet in talks with its lenders to avert bankruptcy.

That helped lift German Bund yields on Thursday with the benchmark 10-year yield reaching 0.386 percent , adding some 20 basis points in two days and further burnishing the euro's appeal.

In commodities trading, crude oil prices edged down in early trade after logging their best monthly gains in six years in April, helped by a weaker dollar and bets that a supply glut would ease.

Brent slipped 0.3 percent to $66.56 a barrel, after reaching a 2015 peak of $66.93 and adding 21 percent in April. U.S. crude was down about 0.1 percent at $59.56, after hitting a 2015 high of $59.85 in post-settlement trading and gaining 25 percent for last month.

(Editing by Shri Navaratnam)