Asia shares mixed, Tokyo down, as dollar stumbles

Asian shares were mixed Tuesday, with the dollar's rally against the yen stumbling despite better than expected US retail figures which highlighted a steady recovery in the world's largest economy. Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index, which hit a more than five year high on Monday, slipped 0.16 percent, or 23.79 points, to 14,758.42, on profit-booking after recent gains prompted by expectations that the yen would continue to weaken and benefit Japanese exporters. "With the Bank of Japan still in the early stages of its monetary easing programme and the US Fed possibly winding down its own plan as signs of economic recovery become more apparent, (Japanese) stocks should continue to rise," said Hiroichi Nishi, SMBC Nikko Securities' general manager of equities. "Momentum remains positive... and the Nikkei is still on track to reach 15,000 in coming sessions", said Yoshihiro Okumura, general manager Chibagin Asset Management. Pioneer shares rocketed 25.75 percent to 293 yen after the struggling car electronics maker announced it would receive capital injections from Mitsubishi Electric and mobile carrier NTT DoCoMo. Reports have said Pioneer was looking for new investors as its biggest shareholder, electronics giant Sharp, eyed the sale of its stake in the firm. Renesas soared 23.05 percent to 427 yen as investors pushed up the volatile stock on hopes that the worst was over for the struggling chipmaker, which has announced a share sale and a separate capital injection. The deal calls for Renesas to sell shares to the state-linked Innovation Network Corp. of Japan and top corporate names including Toyota and Panasonic.The Seoul index rose 1.03 percent, or 20.13 points, to 1,968.83 while Hong Kong closed down 0.26 percent, or 59.53 points, to 22,930.28 and Shanghai fell 1.11 percent, or 24.91 points, to 2,217.01. Sydney rose 0.21 percent, or 10.7 points, to 5,221 but the Australian dollar traded just below parity with the greenback ahead of the annual budget, which is expected to sketch an austere path back to surplus over the next four years. Asian markets were barely stirred by the announcement of a slight improvement in US consumer spending for last month. Retail sales in April were $419.0 billion, up from $418.7 billion the previous month, boosting the earnings outlook for Asian exporters. Analysts had predicted a decline of 0.3 percent as consumers dealt with a January 1 increase in payroll and other taxes. Consumer spending in the United States drives roughly two-thirds of all US economic activity. The April jobs report in early May also came in stronger than expected. The US economy added 165,000 new positions and February and March job growth numbers were revised sharply higher. Inflation data, which is due on Thursday, will be the next key release. The dollar was at 101.54 yen in afternoon Asian trade, weakening from 101.82 yen in New York late Monday but still much higher than the 99-yen range a week earlier. The greenback briefly breached the 102-yen level in Monday's Asian trade on the back of speculation that the US Federal Reserve could be the first among major central banks to roll back its quantitative easing policy. The dollar's strength has been a dominant theme in currency trading in recent days as it gained against other currencies due to further signs of US recovery. The euro fetched $1.3014 and 132.16 yen against $1.2975 and 132.11 yen in US trade. US stocks traded largely flat Monday under the shadow of lower than expected growth in Chinese industrial output for April, which suggested a sluggish recovery in the world's second largest economy. The S&P 500 managed to set a new closing record, but only on the back of an almost negligible 0.07 point gain from the previous mark Friday, ending at 1,633.77. The narrower blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.18 percent to 15,091.68. Oil rebounded in Asian trade, with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, gaining 19 cents to $95.36 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for June delivery rose one cent to $102.83 in afternoon trade. Gold was at $1,438.10 at 0850 GMT compared with $1,428.90 on Monday. In other markets: -- Taipei was flat, edging up 3.50 points to 8,251.82. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co was 0.87 percent higher at Tw$115.5 while Hon Hai Precision fell 0.50 percent at Tw$79.2. -- Wellington fell 0.55 percent, or 25.78 points, to 4,645.86. Telecom Corp was down 1.11 percent at NZ$2.675 while Fletcher Building was up 0.70 percent to NZ$8.61. -- Manila rose 0.70 percent, or 51.08 points, to 7,313.46. Bloomberry Resorts gained 2.79 percent to 12.54 pesos while Philippine Long Distance Telephone rose 2.62 percent to 3,210 pesos.