GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian shares rise as Kudlow comments lift trade hopes

* MSCI Asia ex-Japan +0.67%; Nikkei +0.76%

* Kudlow says U.S., China getting close to trade deal

* Yen weakens, U.S. Treasury yields higher

By Andrew Galbraith

SHANGHAI, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Asian stocks jumped on Friday,

propelled by a record S&P 500 finish and White House comments

suggesting Washington and Beijing were close to striking a trade

deal, reviving hopes the tariff war may near an end.

However, analysts said investor sentiment remained fragile

after weak data from China reinforced concerns about the global

economy and amid increasing caution about false signs of

progress in Sino-U.S. trade talks.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Thursday

that Washington was getting close to a trade agreement with

China, providing a fillip to investor confidence. That helped to lift MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific

shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS up 0.67%. Japan's Nikkei

.N225 added 0.76% and Australian shares .AXJO gained 0.8%.

Chinese blue-chip shares .CSI300 gained 0.06% shortly

after the start of trade.

Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP Capital in Sydney,

likened the market's reaction to positive trade news to being in

a relationship with an alcoholic, driven by entrenched hopes for

recovery.

"Markets want to believe that there will be some sort of

resolution to this issue, some sort of lasting truce at least,

even though the experience of the last 18 months doesn't give a

lot of cause for comfort," he said.

However, Oliver said weaker Chinese and U.S. economies, and

the U.S. presidential election next year put pressure on both

sides to come to an agreement.

The safe-haven yen JPY= weakened, with the dollar rising

0.18% to buy 108.58 yen. The euro EUR= was barely changed at

$1.1023 and the dollar index, which tracks the greenback against

a basket of six major rivals .DXY was off just 0.01% at

98.154.

Higher U.S. Treasury yields also illustrated the risk-on

tone in the Asian session, with the 10-year yield US10YT=RR

rising to 1.8445% from a US close of 1.815% on Thursday.

The policy-sensitive two-year yield rose to 1.6117% from

1.593% on Thursday after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome

Powell said the risk of the U.S. economy facing a dramatic bust

is remote. A Reuters poll of more than 100 economists showed that while

concerns have eased over a U.S. recession, few see an economic

rebound, and most believe a trade truce is unlikely in the

coming year. Global sentiment has been buffeted in recent weeks by

conflicting assessments of progress in talks between the United

States and China aimed at ending their 16-month-long trade war.

On Thursday, China's commerce ministry said that the two

countries are holding "in-depth" discussions on a first phase

trade agreement, and that cancelling tariffs is an important

condition to reaching a deal. China has also ended a nearly five-year ban on imports of

U.S. poultry meat, which the U.S. Trade Representative said

would lead to more than $1 billion in annual shipments to China.

Those developments followed comments from officials from

both countries last week that they had a deal to roll back

tariffs, only to have U.S. President Donald Trump deny that any

such deal had been agreed to. The new record for the S&P, which gained just 0.08% to

3,096.63, came despite a grim outlook from network gear maker

Cisco Systems CSCO.O that underlined the impact of trade

uncertainty.

The company forecast second-quarter revenue and profit below

expectations as increasingly global economic uncertainties kept

clients away from spending more on its routers and switches,

sending its shares down 7.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 0.01% 27,781.96

and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 0.04% to 8,479.02.

European shares also fell after data showed the German

economy grew just 0.1% in the third quarter, with consumer

spending helping the country to avoid a mild contraction.

"In further diminishing the likelihood of significant fiscal

stimulus from the Berlin government, it was not good news at

all," analysts at National Australia Bank said in a morning

note.

The German data followed numbers from China indicating a

faster-than-expected slowdown in factory output growth in

October due to weak domestic and global demand. In commodity markets, U.S. crude prices rebounded after

sliding Thursday on rising U.S. crude inventories. U.S. West

Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 was 0.49% higher at $57.05 a

barrel.

Global benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 was up 0.45% at $62.56

per barrel.

Gold retreated from gains that had been prompted by trade

uncertainty. Spot gold XAU= was last trading at $1,467.50 per

ounce, down 0.23%. GOL/