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Tokyo - Asian shares fell and the euro trimmed gains on Wednesday as caution set in over the chance for more progress in resolving eurozone debt woes after officials agreed to strengthen a rescue fund and seek more aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
European share markets were set to dip, with financial spreadbetters expecting Britain's FTSE 100 and France's CAC-40 to open down 0.9% and Germany's DAX to open down 0.6%.
An early rise in Asian shares was mostly seen as a correction to last week's huge selling, with investors only tepidly scaling back risk aversion as they waited for more eurozone debt sales and meetings ahead.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose as much as 0.5% but then reversed course and was down 0.6%. It rose on Monday and Tuesday after slumping to a seven-week low on Friday. The index was set for a monthy loss of about 9%.
Japan's Nikkei ended down 0.5%, weighed by the downgrade by Standard & Poor's of several major US and European banks. Finacial firms dragged Hong Kong and China shares lower - the Shanghai Composite was down 3.7% - after a Chinese central bank adviser dashed hopes of a monetary policy easing.
Focus is turning to a crucial European Union summit on December 9, with Germany and France working to propose a more rapid European fiscal integration while Germany's opposition to an expanded role of the European Central Bank (ECB) in lending to the region's financially-strapped economies has hurt market sentiment.
"The focus remains on who will give money, to which no fresh news was provided," said Junya Tanase, chief currency strategist at JPMorgan Chase in Tokyo, adding that investors were likely relaxing their risk aversion stance but not turning risk-on yet.
"In the end, whether the ECB will become more actively involved in the debt crisis is key as it is the only viable lender. All other developments are mere technicals."
The euro inched up 0.1% to $1.3333, but still well below Tuesday's high of $1.3443.
US stocks rose on Tuesday on eurozone hopes as well as a bounce in US consumer confidence in November, in another sign the US economy remains on a recovery path.
"There is still a lot of concern about what's happening in the eurozone, but investors appear to be just a little bit more hopeful that progress has been made," said Juliette Saly, market analyst at Commonwealth Securities in Sydney.
"Also heading into the end of the year, investors see our market has been more sold off than the US," she said, adding that follow-through movement hasn't been all that strong and volume was quite low.
On Wednesday, the benchmark Australian share index rose 0.4% to a one-week high, as banks gained and data showed record business investment in the third quarter.
This month, the Dow Jones industrial average has lost 3.3% while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index has fallen 4.6%.
Eurozone officials agreed on Tuesday to leverage the firepower of their bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), using it as an insurance scheme and a co-investment programme. They also agreed to extend aid payments to Greece and Ireland.
Hopes rose for more involvement from the IMF after Eurogroup president Jean-Claude Juncker said they have agreed to rapidly explore ways of boosting the IMF's resources through bilateral loans so it can match the leveraged EFSF's capabilities.
Funding stress
Italy, which faces a dire funding situation with its skyrocketing borrowing costs, has had preliminary discussions with the IMF about financial support, but no decision has been taken, several sources close to the situation said.
On Tuesday, Italy had to pay a record 7.89% yield for its 3-year bonds, above levels which Greece, Ireland and Portugal were forced to apply for international bailouts, but drew strong demand, with the maximum €7.5bn sold.
The inversion of three-year yields being above the 7.3% 10-yield was also noted in the Italian credit default swap curve, where the shorter-dated contracts were quoted higher than the 5-year CDS.
Spain and France are due to tap the market on Thursday.
Eurozone funding strains persisted on Tuesday, with the spread between three-month euro Libor rates and overnight indexed swap rates reaching 87 basis points, near 90 hit in November, its highest since March 2009.
Banks were reluctant to lend to each other, pushing one-year euro/dollar cross currency basis swaps, or the premium that a borrower of dollars needs to pay to access funds, to 108 basis points, its most expensive level since 115 basis points in late 2008.
Asian credit markets weakened, with spreads on the iTraxx Asia ex-Japan investment grade index widening by four basis points on Wednesday.
"Markets want to see more definitive action and until then we won't see aggressive buying just on positive headlines," said a Singapore-based trader with a European bank.
