Asian shares rise, Chinese rate hike shrugged off

SINGAPORE, Mar 19 (Reuters) Asian shares rose on Monday, as Japanese investors picked up shares in technology firms beaten down during the global sell-off of recent weeks, and Australian stocks were boosted by a buyout move in the banking sector.

The dollar rose more than a yen from the day's low, as gains in the share market eased concerns that volatility in financial markets was prompting investors to cash out of riskier assets and pay off the cheap yen loans that had financed them.

China's weekend interest rate rise knocked Shanghai copper prices down nearly half a percent on worries of cooling demand.

China's main share index <.ssec> opened down more than 2 percent, but soon regained its poise to trade in positive territory, soothing worries to rate rise could hit regional share markets.

''The impact is much more moderate than when the issue was first brought up in late February,'' said Shim Jae-youb, an analyst at Meritz Securities in Seoul. ''Gains in the Japanese stock market also helped sentiment remain calm.'' Central bank policy meetings elsewhere were also in focus, with the Bank of Japan meeting on Monday and Tuesday and the US Federal Reserve on Tuesday and Wednesday. Both were expected to leave interest rates unchanged.

''Another focus of the market is a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting as investors hope to get a hint on the U.S. economic outlook,'' said Zenshiro Mizuno, senior managing director of Marusan Securities' equity trading division in Tokyo.

Shares prices have fallen in a global sell-off in recent weeks, trigged by a plunge in Chinese stocks in late February and signs of slowing growth in the United States.

Fears that a crisis in the U.S. mortgage market could hurt the wider economy helped push up gold prices on ''safe-haven'' buying, while oil rose back above a barrel on falling U.S. gasoline stocks and political instability in producer Nigeria.

WEAKENING YEN Tokyo's Nikkei <.n225> rose 0.8 percent in the morning session, with chip gear maker Advantest Corp. up 2.1 percent and electronics components maker Kyocera Corp. rising 2.4 percent.

''Investors are buying on dips in technology shares, encouraged by a weakening yen,'' said Yutaka Miura, deputy manager of the equity information department at Shinko Securities.

MSCI's broadest index of Asian shares outside Japan <.msciapj> was up 0.4 percent by 0215 GMT.

Australia's S&P ASX 200 <.axjo> rose 0.5 percent, as Bank of Queensland's .95 billion bid for rival Bendigo Bank raised hopes for more deals in the sector and boosted financial stocks.

Share markets in Hong Kong <.hsi> and Shanghai shrugged off the Chinese interest rate rise -- the third in less than a year -- and were both up around 0.5 percent. Traders in Shanghai said 0.27 percentage point hike had been expected.

Stock indexes in South Korea <.ks11>, Taiwan <.twii> and Singapore <.sti> rose between 0.3 percent and 0.5 percent.

U.S. stocks ended lower on Friday after strong U.S.

consumer price inflation dented hopes of any interest rate cut any time soon. The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> fell 0.4 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> slipped 0.3 percent.

The dollar bought around 117.25 yen at 0215 GMT, having risen as high as 117.45, well above the day's low of 116.25 yen. The euro traded around 155.90 yen .

U.S. crude oil rose 19 cents to .30 a barrel, after falling as far as .17 last week on worries of an economic slowdown in top consumer the United States.

''Barring some very bearish economic data from the U.S., oil prices should recover in coming weeks on falling U.S. gasoline stocks amid the driving season,'' said Gerard Burg, analyst at National Australia Bank.

''Traders would likely flex their muscles in this gasoline market, which would push up crude prices.'' Gold traded around 4.80 an ounce, up nearly from its level late in New York on Friday.

The benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond yield slipped 0.5 basis point to 1.570 percent.

REUTERS SP RAI0910