SINGAPORE, Oct 7 - Asian stocks were steady to slightly firmer on Tuesday and the dollar retained its losses against the euro as investors awaited U.S. corporate earnings for a fresh snapshot of the health of the economy. The steady performance by Asian shares was enough to nudge a regional dollar-based index to a fresh three-year high following a fourth day of gains on Wall Street, where investors bet that the economy and corporate profits were on the mend. The more modest reaction in Asia came as people awaited further economic data and company results to confirm the outlook was indeed rosier. Quarterly earnings reports from Dow industrial average companies begins on Tuesday with results from aluminium producer Alcoa Inc . "The action in Tokyo is mirroring New York, in the sense that investors are taking a wait-and-see attitude with few big trading incentives today but the Alcoa earnings and Japanese machinery orders (data) looming," said Tsuyoshi Nomaguchi, strategist at Daiwa Securities.
Japan's Nikkei average <.N225> ended the morning session flat at 10,740.58. But a dollar-based MSCI index of shares elsewhere in the Asia Pacific <.MSCIAPJ> had advanced 0.4 percent by around 0200 GMT to its highest level since September 2000. Singapore set the pace for a second day on brighter economic forecasts by the government and analysts. The Straits Times Index <.STI> jumped more than one percent to a 17-month peak. Benchmarks elsewhere advanced 0.4 percent in Australia <.AXJO> and 0.2 percent in Taiwan <.TWII> and held flat in South Korea <.KS11>. Hong Kong <.HSI> also opened steady, although Henderson Land Development Co Ltd <0012.HK>, the third-biggest property developer in the territory, slumped more than seven percent after a share sale to institutional investors. Stock markets and the dollar have benefited from strong U.S. jobs data on Friday, but the impact in the currency market faded on Monday after European Central Bank President Wim Duisenberg said the dollar's decline was "unavoidable". The dollar fell one percent against the euro on Monday and held that loss in Asia to trade at around $1.1708 per euro, little changed from late U.S. trade. Concerns about intervention by Japanese authorities shackled the dollar at around 111 yen . Traders said the market's focus was now on U.S. corporate earnings. "We're expecting fairly good figures," said Junya Tanase, global markets officer at JP Morgan Chase in Tokyo. "But such figures may only add to the bullishness in Japanese shares instead of helping the dollar. The correlation between U.S. stock prices and the dollar has not been very high lately."
Gold rose to $372.90 an ounce from $372.45 at the U.S. close. U.S. light crude oil was steady around $30.44 a barrel, near one-month highs.//