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Asian shares slipped and the dollar inched higher in early Asian trade on Wednesday, as concerns about a possible U.S. government shutdown and uncertainty about the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy outlook made investors hesitant to take aggressive positions.
"Sentiment remained somewhat subdued as investors stayed cautious amid lingering uncertainty on the Fed's stance," analysts at Credit Agricole wrote in a note to clients.
"Adding to that uncertainty is the approaching deadlines for the U.S. fiscal struggle and we expect the market to place increasing focus on that front going forward," they said.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped about 0.1 percent, while Japan's Nikkei stock average .N225 was down 0.2 percent.
The dollar was narrowly higher against its Japanese currency, buying 98.76 yen, while it rose fractionally against a basket of six currencies to 80.588.
The euro was slightly down at $1.3472, with support cited at its August high of $1.3453, pressured by a disappointing German survey overnight.
The September Ifo survey of German business sentiment, released on Tuesday, showed a slight improvement from the previous month and touched a 17-month high, but still fell short of the consensus forecast.
The downbeat survey came a day after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the bank was prepared to do more to support the region's nascent recovery.
"It seems like an improvement in the euro zone economic data has stalled. In addition, now that Germany's election is over, the market could dust off the issues that had fallen out of focus, such as further aid to Greece," said Masafumi Yamamoto, forex strategist at Praevidentia Strategy.
On Wall Street on Tuesday, U.S. stocks mostly ended lower, extending their slide to a fourth session. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 0.42 percent, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index 0.25 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite Index managed a modest gain of 0.08 percent.
Tea Party-backed U.S. senators are threatening to stall a bill to fund the U.S. Government.
New York Fed President William Dudley, in an interview on CNBC on Tuesday, defended the central bank's surprise decision last week to refrain from tapering its stimulus because the U.S. economy was weaker than the Fed thought in June. Dudley, a known dove, said he "wouldn't rule out" a stimulus reduction later this year.
U.S. economic data on Tuesday was mixed and lent credence to the Fed's decision to hold policy steady. U.S. home prices gained in July, but consumer confidence slipped in September, underscoring the possibility that higher interest rates and a sluggish economy could brake the housing market recovery.
On the commodities front, copper futures edged up 0.2 percent to $7,159.50, on track to snap a three-session losing streak fuelled by supply concerns and uncertainty about the Fed's policy outlook.
Oil prices firmed against a backdrop of hopeful signals that longstanding tensions in the Middle East could be thawing. U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday cautiously embraced overtures from Iran's new president as the basis for a possible nuclear deal, but a failed effort to arrange a simple handshake between the two leaders underscored entrenched distrust that will be hard to overcome.
Front-month Brent crude for November delivery rose about 0.1 percent to $108.79, while November U.S. crude added 0.2 percent to $103.37 a barrel.

World shares slide on growth, Fed concerns, dollar flat

Adrop in euro zone factory output after a run of weaker-than expected U.S. data stalled an eight-day rise in world shares on Thursday, jangling the nerves of investors positioning for a shift in Fed policy next week.
Moves towards a diplomatic solution on Syria gave some support to financial markets, but doubts over what exactly the Fed will announce on September 18 increase the potential for near-term volatility.
"The Fed is still likely to taper next week or in October but the trajectory of the tapering that we had assumed can no longer be taken for granted," said Ned Rumpeltin, head of G10 FX strategy at Standard Chartered Bank.
Euro/dollar and dollar/yen one-week implied volatilities - a gauge of how sharp price swings will be next week - have shot up as investors try to guess when and how fast the Fed will start to run down its monetary stimulus.
The one-week euro/dlr implied volatility traded at around 7.85 percent, much higher than the equivalent one-month rate which was around 7.2 percent.
The one-week dollar/yen implied volatility was also trading much higher than the one-month level.
Uncertainty has grown with weaker-than-expected U.S. data, including jobs growth in August and consumer spending, home building, new home sales, durable goods orders and industrial production in July.
A Reuters poll of economists on Monday this week found most now see the Fed trimming its $85 billion monthly spend on bonds by about $10 billion. This was down from $15 billion in a poll before the jobs report.
The shifting views have put pressure on the dollar, which hovered near two-week lows against a basket of major currencies .DXY on Thursday. U.S. Treasury yields have dipped to nearer 2.8 percent from over 3 percent last week.
But the euro slipped against the dollar on Thursday and European shares ended a run that had taken them near a five-year high when data showed a surprisingly large drop in industrial output across the currency bloc in July.
That bolsters the case for the European Central Bank to keep monetary policy loose in the face of changes at the Fed and adds weight to the argument that it should even consider another rate cut.
Europe's broad FTSE Eurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 was down 0.1 percent by mid-morning at 1,248.33 points, edging away from a 5-year high of 1,258.09 points reached in late May this year.
The MSCI world equity index .MIWD00000PUS was slightly lower, with U.S. stock index futures pointing to further weakness when trading gets underway on Wall St. .N
ASIAN RELIEF
Reduced expectations of the degree of Fed tapering eased pressure on emerging market currencies, which had been driven up as the cheap U.S. money was pumped into high-yielding stocks and bonds, and are now falling as these trades reverse.
Indonesia's central bank unveiled a surprise rate hike to help the rupiah recover from a 4-1/2 year low. Other Asian central banks were expected to wait for next week's Fed decision before taking any action.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS shed 0.2 percent while the stronger yen and downbeat economic data helped push Japan's Nikkei stock average .N225 down 0.3 percent.
In fixed income markets anticipation of the Fed trimming its stimulus combined with concerns abut domestic politics drove up Italy's borrowing costs at an auction of 7.5 billion euros ($10 billion) of new debt.
A cross-party Senate committee in Italy is due to resume a hearing later on whether to bar Silvio Berlusconi from political life, at the risk of prompting the former prime minister's allies to pull out the coalition government.
No decision by the Senate is expected until mid-October leaving investors in considerable uncertainty over whether the government has the strength to overhaul the economy and manage its budget deficit.
In commodities, copper slipped 0.9 percent to $7,101 a tonne. An improved outlook for China's economy and the reduced risk of a strike on Syria have helped bring copper prices off the three-year lows plumbed in late June.
Gold skidded 1.8 percent to $1,342.56 an ounce, its weakest since mid-August while Brent crude added about 0.8 percent to $112.40 as investors watched diplomatic efforts to place Syria's chemical weapons under international control stepped up.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were meeting in Geneva on Thursday to try to agree on a strategy to eliminate the chemical arsenal.

Market sentiments improve, Sensex surges over 200 points

SI Reporter in Mumbai

Benchmark indices have closed higher, amid volatile trading session led by FMCG and IT shares.

Meanwhile, the Centre's fiscal deficit ballooned to almost 63% of Budget Estimates for 2013-14 in just first four months of the year.

The deficit stood at Rs 3.40 lakh crore (Rs 3.4 trillion) in April-July period, which was 62.8% of Rs 5.42 lakh crore pegged in the Budget, according to data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA).

The 30-share Sensex ended up 219 points at 18,620 and the 50-share Nifty ended up 63 points at 5,472.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that the rupee's tumble is a "matter of concern" but is part of a needed adjustment due to India's large current account deficit.

Singh said that rupee depreciation will see upward pressure on inflation, but added that RBI will work on containing it.

Indian economy will grow at about 5.5% in the current fiscal and the first quarter numbers are expected to be relatively flat, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today.

The key trigger for markets now will be first quarter GDP data scheduled later today.

Moody's Analytics, the research and analysis wing of Moody’s expects the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for the first quarter to be at 4.5%.

On the global front, Asian stocks rose and oil prices tumbled as a possible U.S. military strike on Syria appeared less likely, while the dollar remained not far from a three-week high against a basket of currencies after upbeat US growth data.
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