GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian shares defensive, dollar struggles near 1-mth lows

* Asian stock markets : https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
* MSCI ex-Japan takes a breather after two days of gains
* Australia, NZ, Chinese shares in the red
* Dollar languishes near one-month lows
* Oil gives back some of the gains, gold slightly higher

By Swati Pandey
SYDNEY, April 15 (Reuters) - Asian shares were on the
backfoot on Thursday following mixed cues from Wall Street where
a sharp sell-off in the largest bitcoin exchange Coinbase
COIN.O hit tech shares while the dollar index struggled near
one-month lows.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS paused after two straight days of gains. It was
last at 690.53, a long way from a record high of 745.89 touched
in February.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 rose 0.2% while South Korea's KOSPI
index .KS11 was up a tad.
Australia's benchmark index .AXJO slipped 0.4% as miners
were dented by weaker prices for iron ore and coal.
Global shares have surged in recent weeks led by successful
rollouts of COVID-19 vaccines around the world, U.S. stimulus
packages and higher U.S. inflation expectations.
"However, the back up in treasury yields has begun to exert
a valuation test on some parts of the global equity markets with
value outperforming growth," Jefferies analysts wrote in a note.
"Equally, there are fewer stocks offering decent yields and
higher capital gains."
JPMorgan Asset Management was trimming its overall Emerging
Markets (EM) exposure "mostly driven by a less sanguine outlook
on EM Asia," its global multi-asset strategist Patrik Schowitz
wrote in a note.
"China has now recovered enough that policymakers can afford
to be more conservative and worry more about containing debt and
property market risks. That will be a headwind to China
equities, despite the solid economy," Schowitz added.
Chinese shares started in the red on Thursday with the
blue-chip CSI300 index .CSI300 down 0.2%.
JPMorgan Asset Management is less keen on tech shares, which
Schowitz said, should have less upside to earnings expectations
in the near-term and are "very expensive" relative to value.
Overnight, Wall Street ended mixed with the tech sector the
biggest underperformer after Coinbase was sold off on its
listing day, dragging the Nasdaq lower. .N Coinbase's listing coincided with a record price for
Bitcoin, which rose to just under $65,000 but the euphoria
proved to be short-lived as the stock fell nearly 20% from its
opening level to trade at $328.
"That would be a bit painful if you bought the stock at its
intraday peak of $429.54," said NAB strategist Rodrigo Catril.
U.S. bank earnings were the other big focus with Goldman
Sachs GS.N , JP Morgan JPM.N and Wells Fargo WFC.N
reporting strong results.
In currencies, the U.S. dollar =USD was on track for a
fourth consecutive day of fall against its major counterparts.
Forex investors are keeping an eye on Treasury yields for
direction with a potential market panic about accelerating
inflation seen as the biggest risk to sentiment.
Major policymakers, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, have
repeatedly said there is still plenty of labour market slack to
keep inflation in check for a several years though there might
be temporary spikes which they are willing to overlook.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar slipped for a fourth
day JPY= to 108.93. The euro EUR= rose to $1.195 and
sterling GBP= was a shade higher at $1.3790.
The Australian dollar AUD=D3 hovered near three-week highs
at $0.7736 after posting its biggest one-day percentage gain
since Feb. 19 on Wednesday. Its New Zealand peer NZD=D3 was
upbeat at $0.7160, a level not seen since March 23.
In commodities, oil gave back some of the gains from
Wednesday when it climbed nearly 5% on signs of increasing crude
demand.
Brent crude LCOc1 was off 40 cents at $66.18 a barrel.
Light crude CLc1 slipped to $62.75.
Gold XAU= was 0.1% higher at $1,738.8 an ounce.

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(Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)