GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia stocks at 4-mth top as markets stay stubbornly optimistic

* Asian stock markets : https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
* Asia ex-Japan nudges to highest since early March
* Market assumes economies to re-open even as virus rages
* Dollar remains inversely correlated to risk
* Gold near 7-1/2-year peak, oil off a 4-month top

By Wayne Cole
SYDNEY, June 24 (Reuters) - Asian shares cleared a
four-month high on Wednesday as investors remained stubbornly
upbeat on the outlook for a re-opening of the global economy
even as cases of the coronavirus looked to be accelerating to
new peaks.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS added 0.5% to reach its highest since pandemic
lockdowns first cratered markets in early March.
South Korea .KS11 led with a rise of 1.6%, while Japan's
Nikkei .N225 was held flat by a firm yen. E-Mini futures for
the S&P 500 ESc1 reversed early losses to gain 0.2%, while
EUROSTOXX 50 futures STXEc1 lagged with a loss of 0.3%.
On Wall Street, the Dow .DJI had ended Tuesday 0.5%
higher, while the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.4% and the Nasdaq
.IXIC 0.7%.
News on the coronavirus was hardly encouraging with several
U.S. states seeing record infections and the death toll in Latin
America passing 100,000 on Tuesday, according to a Reuters
tally. The European Union is even prepared to bar U.S. travellers
because of the surge of cases in the country, putting it in the
same category as Brazil and Russia, the New York Times reported.
Yet the market assumes there is a very high bar to shutting
down economies again, so the impact on business activity will
not be too great.
The dogged optimism about the global economy was supported
by upbeat surveys of manufacturing from Europe, with France a
stand-out as lockdown loosening there led to a modest return to
growth. That followed solid June readings from much of Asia, though
Japan did disappoint.
"One surprise in the recent data has been the resiliency of
activity data in emerging Asia even as the global economy slowed
sharply and global demand remains below pre-pandemic levels,"
said analysts at JPMorgan in a note.
"This outcome largely appears to be due to the tech sector
outperforming non-tech, most likely reflecting in part a
temporary work-from-home boost to demand."
The better European data combined with the positive risk
mood to keep the U.S. dollar under pressure. Against a basket of
major currencies it slipped back to 96.578 =USD from a top of
97.719 at the start of the week.
The euro edged up to $1.1320 EUR= , having been as low as
$1.1167 on Monday, while the dollar eased to 106.50 yen JPY=
after touching a six-week low of 106.06 at one stage.
"The dollar and risk sentiment are likely to remain broadly
negatively correlated, barring the U.S. displaying clear and
enduring leadership in the global economic recovery, something
hard to square with the grim U.S. news on COVID," said Ray
Attrill, head of FX strategy at NAB.
The New Zealand dollar eased NZD=D3 after the country's
central bank said it might have to do yet more to stimulate the
economy, including cutting rates further, expanding bond
purchases or even buying foreign assets. In commodity markets, the decline in the dollar and endless
cheap liquidity from central banks helped lift gold to its
highest since October 2012. The metal was last at $1,770 an
ounce XAU= . GOL/
Oil futures eased from four-month highs after U.S. crude
inventories rose a surprisingly large 1.7 million barrels last
week, according to industry data. That compares with analysts'
expectations for a 300,000-barrel build. U.S. government data
will be released on Wednesday. O/R
Brent crude LCOc1 futures declined 8 cents to $42.55 a
barrel, while U.S. crude CLc1 fell 20 cents to $40.17.

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(Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Sam Holmes)