GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian shares start cautiously amid elevated valuations, oil skids

* Asian stock markets : https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
* Japan's Nikkei falls in early trading, Australian shares
weak
* MSCI ex-Japan barely changed after two straight sessions
of
losses
* Currency market action muted
* Oil falls more than $1 after Saudi price cuts

By Swati Pandey
SYDNEY, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Asian shares started Monday on
the backfoot as investors grapple with sky-high valuations
against the backdrop of a global economy in the grip of a deep
coronavirus-induced recession while oil prices dropped sharply.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 was down 0.4% ahead of a heavy week
of macroeconomic data with figures on household spending,
current account and gross domestic product due on Tuesday.
Some analysts expect a fresh dose of fiscal stimulus in the
country before the year-end while predicting 'Abenomics' will be
retained even after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe steps
down from the helm.
Australian shares .AXJO slipped 0.4% while South Korea
.KS11 and New Zealand's benchmark index .NZ50 were off 0.1%
each.
That left MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares
outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS barely changed after two straight
days of losses toppled it from a 2-1/2-year peak last week.
World shares .MIWD00000PUS hit a record high last week as
central bank stimulus drove asset valuations to heady levels.
The rally cooled late last week as tech stocks sold off while
worries over patchy economic recovery dogged investors.
The immediate focus on the day will be on China's exports
and imports data for August, due later in the morning.
China's exports are expected to have posted a second month
of solid gains in August as more of its trading partners relaxed
coronavirus lockdowns and reopened their economies, a Reuters
poll showed. U.S. stock futures opened in the red, with E-minis for the
S&P 500 ESc1 down 0.3% and Nasdaq futures NQc1 sliding 1.1%.
U.S. markets will be closed on Monday for Labor Day.
Nasdaq futures were dragged lower by the exclusion of Tesla
TSLA.O from a group of companies that were being added to the
S&P 500.
Analysts at Jefferies expect the equities market correction
to extend further.
"Our risk indices have begun to turn from their euphoria
highs," Jefferies said.
"It is not unthinkable that global equities are set to churn
in a range for a while as some of the orphan sectors/countries
are refranchised while the richly valued sectors pause or
unwind," it added.
"On the balance of probabilities, last week's correction has
further room to go."
Jefferies said it was switching its weighting on MSCI All
World index to "tactically bearish" in the short term.
It noted that a gauge of volatility .VIX has nudged higher
in the past three months alongside a steepening in U.S. 10-year
to 5-year Treasury yield curve as well as the 30-year to 5-year
curve.
"We wonder how much moves in both would upset the equity
market," Jefferries said.
Later this week, investors will look for data on U.S.
inflation with both producer and consumer prices expected to
remain mostly steady.
"With slack in the labor market and broader economy to
remain for years, it's hard to see where sustainably higher
inflation will come from," Brown Brothers Harriman said in a
note.
"That said, the bottom line is that U.S. rates will stay
lower for longer. Full stop."
In commodities, oil prices dropped more than $1 a barrel,
hitting their lowest since July, after Saudi Arabia made the
deepest monthly price cuts for supply to Asia in five months.
O/R
Fading optimism about demand recovery amid the coronavirus
pandemic also weighed. U.S. crude CLc1 fell 2% to $38.97 a
barrel. Brent crude LCOc1 skidded 1.9% to $41.85.
Policy meetings at the Bank of Canada on Wednesday and the
European Central Bank (ECB) the following day are also on
investors' radar, with both expected to keep policy steady.
Action in the forex market was muted.
In currencies, the dollar was flat against the yen at 106.27
JPY= while the euro held at $1.1838.
The British pound GBP= was a shade weaker at $1.3248 ahead
of a new round of Brexit talks with the European Union on
Monday.

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Asia-Pacific valuations https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dr2BQA
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(Editing by Shri Navaratnam)