Asia stocks get welcome respite as crude prices bounce

By Lisa Twaronite

TOKYO (Reuters) - Battered crude oil prices bounced back from their lows on Thursday, propelling solid gains in Asian shares and the dollar.

Thursday's gains built on Wall Street's consolidation overnight in which major indexes finished with declines of more than 1 percent, but well off the 3 percent plus they plumbed in the previous session when U.S. crude had dropped to 2003 lows.

New front-month U.S. March oil futures fell nearly 4 percent on the day to close at $28.35 a barrel, but they were up 1.2 percent in Asian trade at $28.70, a far cry from the expiring contract on U.S. crude for February delivery, which slid 6.7 percent to settle at $26.55.

Brent crude rose 1.4 percent to $28.27 in Asian trade. [O/R]

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan extended early gains and was up 1.4 percent while Japan's Nikkei average added 1.5 percent, clawing back some of the 3.7 percent it plunged in the previous session to a 14-1/2 month closing low.

"Perhaps this stock market rebound comes from the usual suspects: Short-covering and bargain-hunting. However, today's results alone should not be seen as proof of an upward trend," said Hiroki Allen, chief representative of Superfund Securities Japan.

China's bluechip CSI300 index was down 0.5 percent in early trade, and the Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.8 percent.

The dollar bounced back from a one-year low against its perceived safe-haven Japanese counterpart. The greenback added about 0.4 percent to 117.38 yen after falling as low as 115.97 on Wednesday, even as it marked impressive gains against some emerging market currencies.

"It is not your ordinary day in the foreign exchange market when the Russian rouble and the Mexican peso hit record lows while the Hong Kong dollar falls to its weakest level since 1999," said Kathy Lien, managing director at BK Asset Management in New York.

"Emerging market countries bear the brunt of the selling because the slowdown in global growth and volatility in commodities causes significant economic damage for these countries," she said in a note to clients.

U.S. data out on Wednesday undermined the dollar overnight. U.S. consumer prices unexpectedly fell in December, suggesting inflation was more sluggish than the U.S. Federal Reserve believed.

Other Wednesday data showed a drop in housing starts and building permits last month, which led investors to pare expectations of further interest rate hikes this year.

The euro edged down about 0.2 percent to $1.0870, ahead of the European Central Bank's regular policy meeting later in the session. Expectations are for the ECB to hold interest rates steady but highlight increasing risks to growth and inflation while keeping the door open for further easing steps later this year.

(Reporting by Lisa Twaronite; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Eric Meijer)