GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian markets tread cautiously ahead of U.S. stimulus, jobs

* U.S. stimulus bill awaited, jobless figures dreaded
* Australia higher, Nikkei lower
* Dollar jumps vs Aussie and kiwi
* Asian stock markets: https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4

By Tom Westbrook
SINGAPORE, March 26 (Reuters) - Asian stock markets made a
cautious start on Thursday following two days of rallies, as
investors await the passage and details of a $2 trillion
stimulus package in the United States to combat the economic
fallout from the coronavirus.
Senate leaders hope to vote on the plan later on Wednesday
in Washington, but it still faces criticism. The bill includes a
$500 billion fund to help hard-hit industries and a comparable
amount for payments up to $3,000 to millions of U.S. families.
It cannot come soon enough, with potentially enormous weekly
U.S. initial jobless claims to appear in data due at 1230 GMT.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 .AXJO index rose 1.5% in early
trade - its third positive start in as many sessions, but also
its most muted. Japan's Nikkei .N225 fell 2.2%.
Hong Kong futures HSIc1 were 1% higher and China A50
futures SFCc1 were up 0.2%. MSCI's broadest index of
Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.3%.
"There has been so much stimulus thrown at this," said Jun
Bei Liu, portfolio manager at Tribeca Investment Partners in
Sydney.
"But the positivity related to it is really just sentiment,"
she said, adding that investors were largely flying blind with
so many companies withdrawing earnings guidance. Jobless figures
may offer a "reality check," she said.
In perhaps an early sign of the fragile mood, the
risk-sensitive Australian dollar AUD=D3 dropped 1% and the
safe-haven Japanese yen JPY= rose in morning trade. FRX/
U.S. stock futures ESc1 rose 1%, following the first
back-to-back session rises on Wall Street in over a month.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 2.4% and the
S&P 500 .SPX 1.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped
half a percent following a Nikkei report that Apple APPL.O was
weighing a delay in the launch of its 5G iPhone. CLAIMS TO TEST BOUNCE
The money at stake in the stimulus bill amounts to nearly
half of the $4.7 trillion the U.S. government spends annually.
But it also comes against a backdrop of bad news as the
coronavirus spreads and as jobless claims are set to soar, with
both expected to test the nascent bounce in markets this week.
California Governor Gavin Newsom told reporters on Wednesday
that a million Californians had already applied for jobless
benefits this month - a number that knocked stocks from session
highs and has analysts bracing for worse to come.
RBC Capital Markets economists had expected a national
figure over 1 million in Thursday's data, but say "it is now
poised to be many multiples of that," as reduced hours across
the country drive deep layoffs.
"Something in the 5-10 million range for initial jobless
claims is quite likely," they wrote in a note.
That compares to a 695,000 peak in 1982. Forecasts in a
Reuters poll range from a minimum of 250,000 initial claims, all
the way up to 4 million. Trepidation seemed to put a halt on the U.S. dollar's recent
softness in currency markets, with the dollar ahead 1% against
the Antipodean currencies and up 0.6% against the pound.
It slipped 0.3% to 110.85 yen.
U.S. crude CLc1 slipped 1.5% to $24.11 per barrel and gold
XAU= steadied at $1,608.14 per ounce.

(Editing by Lincoln Feast & Shri Navaratnam)