GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia stocks bounce, oil slips as Iran anxiety ebbs

* Asian stock markets : https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
* Nikkei rallies 1.3% as Mideast risks reconsidered
* Oil retreats on doubts Iran would disrupt supplies
* Safe-havens pull back with yen and gold easing

By Wayne Cole
SYDNEY, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Asian shares rebounded on Tuesday
as a day passed without any new escalation in the Middle East
and Wall Street erased early losses to end in the black as tech
stocks climbed.
Oil surrendered hefty gains as some speculated Iran would be
unlikely to strike against the United States in a way that would
disrupt supplies, and its own crude exports. O/R
Brent crude LCOc1 futures fell 54 cents to $68.37 a
barrel, having been as high as $70.74 on Monday, while U.S.
crude CLc1 dropped 44 cents to $62.83.
Gold XAU= also retreated to $1,557.54 an ounce, after
scaling a near seven-year peak of $1,579.72 overnight.
Equities went the other way as MSCI's broadest index of
Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS added 0.6%,
recouping almost all of Monday's losses.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 rallied 1.3% and Shanghai blue chips
.CSI300 advanced 0.5%. E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 ESc1
firmed 0.1%, while EUROSTOXX 50 futures STXEc1 rose 0.4%.
Shares had fallen sharply on Monday as Iran and the United
States traded threats after an U.S. air strike killed a top
Iranian commander.
The mood calmed a little as the session passed with no new
aggression.
Instead there was much confusion when the U.S, military
wrote to Iraq on Monday saying it would pull out of the country,
a letter seen by Reuters showed. Yet U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper told Pentagon
reporters that no decision had been made and the military said
the letter was only a poorly worded draft. Wall Street chose to hope for the best and the Dow .DJI
rose 0.24%, while the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.35% and the Nasdaq
.IXIC 0.56%.
Surveys of service sectors out overnight showed an
improvement in the United States, UK and EU, stirring
speculation the closely-watched ISM measure of U.S. services due
later Tuesday will also show strength.
"We think the longest U.S. expansion on record still has
plenty of legs," said Tom Porcelli, chief U.S. economist at RBC
Capital Markets. "To be sure, Iran adds an additional layer of
complexity."
"But while the risk of conflict has increased, the reality
is this is likely to be limited to proxy skirmishes," he argued.
"The risk of a "hot" conflict seems low as Iran is unlikely to
respond in such a way that risks a significant escalation from
the United States."
The calmer mood saw the yen lose much of its safe-haven
gains, with the dollar bouncing to 108.42 yen JPY= from a low
of 107.75 hit on Monday.
The euro edged up to $1.1195 EUR= , but faces stiff chart
resistance around $1.1240, while sterling made gains to $1.3172
GBP= on better economic data at home.
Against a basket of currencies, the dollar had drifted off
to 97.645 .DXY but stayed above the recent six-month trough of
96.355.

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(Editing by Shri Navaratnam)