* Asian stock markets : https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
* Nikkei hovers near 2019 highs as markets consolidate
* Sterling slips further after sharpest fall in a year
* BofA fund manager survey shows bullish mood swing
* China trims 14-day repo rate 5 bps to 2.65%
By Wayne Cole
SYDNEY, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Asian stocks camped out at
18-month peaks on Wednesday having climbed for five straight
sessions, while the British pound was licking fresh wounds as
revived Brexit fears came back to bite it.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS inched up 0.1% to its highest since June last
year. Japan's Nikkei .N225 dipped 0.3% and off a 2019 top.
Shanghai blue chips .CSI300 added 0.3%, after hitting an
eight-month peak on Tuesday, as Beijing trimmed another
short-term interest rate. E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 ESc1 were little changed,
while EUROSTOXX 50 futures STXEc1 fell 0.1%.
Upbeat economic news had helped the S&P 500 reach a record
for the fourth straight session, building on its 27% gain this
year. The Dow .DJI ended Tuesday up 0.19%, while the S&P 500
.SPX gained 0.07% and the Nasdaq .IXIC 0.11%. .N
U.S. housing starts were surprisingly strong in November,
and building permits rose to the highest level since May 2007.
Manufacturing output picked up more than expected as a strike at
General Motors Co GM.N ended. A run of better data recently has helped calm fears of
recession while the "phase one" Sino-U.S. deal on trade seems to
have lifted some of the uncertainty on the global outlook.
The sea change was clear in BofA Global Research's latest
survey of fund managers with recession concerns diving 33
percentage points to a net 68% of investors saying a recession
is now unlikely in 2020.
Global growth expectations jumped 22 percentage points,
marking the biggest 2-month rise on record. As a result, funds'
allocation to global equities climbed 10 percentage points to a
net 31% overweight, the highest level in a year.
THEN AGAIN...
Yet it might be too soon to declare an all-clear on the
political front with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson upsetting
markets by taking a hard line on Brexit talks. Johnson will use the prospect of a Brexit cliff-edge at the
end of 2020 to demand the EU give him a comprehensive free trade
deal in less than 11 months.
The threat of a hard exit sent shivers through sterling,
which slid 1.5% in its largest one-day fall this year.
The pound was down another 0.4% on Wednesday at $1.3075
GBP=D3 having shed all the gains made during the Conservative
Party's big election win. GBP/
"Johnson's move aimed at cancelling the possibility of an
extension, has essentially increase the possibility of a no deal
Brexit," said Rodrigo Catril, a senior FX strategist at NAB.
"It suggests sterling's path in 2020 looks set to be a
volatile one, a hard Brexit cannot be ruled out, but the
probability of a positive Brexit resolution has also increased."
Sterling's slide gave the dollar index a lift to 97.243
.DXY against a basket of currencies, extending a bounce from
last week's five-month low of 96.588.
The euro also surged on the pound EURGBP= and was steady
on the dollar at $1.1140 EUR= . The yen was little changed at
109.46 per dollar JPY= .
Spot gold idled at $1,475.24 per ounce XAU= , after a
couple of very quiet sessions.
Oil prices eased from three-month highs as data showed U.S.
crude stocks rose unexpectedly in the most recent week.
O/R
U.S. crude CLc1 fell 38 cents to $60.56 a barrel, while
Brent crude LCOc1 futures lost 29 cents to $65.81.
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(Editing by Sam Holmes and Jacqueline Wong)