* MSCI Asia ex-Japan turns 0.07% lower
* European shares seen rebounding from losses
* Gold steady near $1,500/oz
* Sterling near Jan 2017 lows vs. dollar
* Asian stock markets: https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
By Andrew Galbraith
SHANGHAI, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Worries that a prolonged
Sino-U.S. trade war could tip the world and U.S. economies into
recession weighed on Asian equities on Monday, offsetting a
welcome a lift from Chinese shares and a stronger-than-expected
daily fixing for the yuan.
European stocks were expected to recover on Monday after a
second week of losses. In early deals, futures for the
pan-region Euro Stoxx 50 STXEc1 were up 0.69%, German's DAX
FDXc1 0.6% higher and FTSE FFIc1 up 0.58%.
But MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside
Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS turned down from small gains to be 0.07%
lower in afternoon trade.
The earlier gains had been aided by Chinese shares rallying
from the previous week's losses. Blue-chip shares .CSI300 rose
1.04%, with listed brokerages boosted by a late-Friday
announcement from China's securities regulator of relaxed margin
financing rules. Further helping sentiment, the People's Bank of China (PBOC)
set its daily midpoint for yuan trading CNY=PBOC - which
determines the limits for its onshore movement - at 7.0211 per
dollar. That was weaker than Friday's setting but stronger than
market expectations.
Ryan Felsman, senior economist at CommSec in Sydney, said
there was a "positive reaction" to Monday's fixing, including a
pick-up in the Australian dollar AUD= , as it reassured
investors that China won't steadily weaken the yuan.
But uncertainty over how the U.S.-China trade conflict will
be resolved is contributing to market volatility, Felsman said.
One week ago, China allowed the yuan CNY=CFXS to break
through the key 7-per-dollar level for the first time since
2008, prompting Washington to label Beijing a currency
manipulator and sparking market ructions.
The International Monetary Fund said on Friday that it stood
by its assessment that the value of China's yuan was largely in
line with economic fundamentals. On Monday, Australian shares .AXJO dipped 0.17% and
Indonesian shares .JKSE fell 0.53% while the South Korean
.KS11 market reversed early losses to rise 0.37%.
Trading activity was relatively muted with some regional
markets, including Japan, Singapore and India, closed for
holidays on Monday.
MIXED MESSAGES
On Friday, Wall Street snapped a three-day winning streak
after U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington was continuing
trade talks with Beijing, but that the U.S. was not going to
make a deal for now. Those comments helped to drive a late sell-off in a volatile
session that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fall
0.34%, the S&P 500 .SPX lose 0.66% and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC drop 1%.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro subsequently said
that the United States was still planning to hold another round
of trade talks with Chinese negotiators. Worries about the damaging effects of the trade war were
underscored by a warning from Goldman Sachs of the rising risk
of a U.S. recession, and that it no longer expects a trade deal
before the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Elsewhere, there was little positive news. Data last week
showed the British economy unexpectedly shrank for the first
time since 2012 in the second quarter, while German industrial
production suffered its biggest annual decline in nine years.
All of that raised global recession fears as the escalating
Sino-U.S tariff war took a toll on trade and investment.
"Cross asset correlations and money flow continue to tell
(us) that this funk in markets is a genuine result of fear and
uncertainty from traders and investors," said Greg McKenna,
strategist at McKenna Macro, an Australian financial advisory
firm.
A flight to perceived safe-haven assets helped to lift the
price of gold XAU= above $1,500 last week for the first time
since April 2013. The precious metal shed some early gains on
Monday but last traded flat at $1,496.37 per ounce. GOL/
In currency markets, sterling GBP=D3 matched its January
17, 2017 low against the U.S. dollar, buying as little as
$1.2015 in early Asian trade Monday before ticking higher to
$1.2036.
The UK currency came under pressure on Friday after the
downbeat data on the British economy.
The dollar dropped 0.26% against the yen to 105.39 JPY= ,
and the euro EUR= added 0.1% to $1.1209.
The dollar index .DXY , which tracks the greenback against
a basket of six major rivals, was down a touch at 97.479.
China's onshore yuan CNY=CFXS weakened slightly against
the dollar to 7.0638 while its offshore counterpart CNH=D3
strengthened to 7.0935 per dollar.
"The market took the higher (yuan) fixings in its stride and
will now focus on establishing a new equilibrium for USD/CNY ...
The PBOC is unlikely to fuel excessive speculative RMB
depreciation pressures after allowing USD/CNY to trade above 7,"
analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a note.
Oil prices dipped on growth and trade worries, having risen
sharply on Friday on a drop in European inventories and
production cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries.
U.S. crude CLc1 was down 0.48% to $54.24 a barrel and
global benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 shed 0.43% to $58.28 per
barrel. O/R
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Rising gold prices https://tmsnrt.rs/2YD8nsu
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