GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian equities set to gain as short-squeeze subsides; dollar eases

* Guard-rails on U.S. day traders ease hedge fund selling
* U.S. data shows recovery proceeding, but not too fast
* Dollar, Treasury prices decline a bit as fears subside

By Alwyn Scott
NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Asian stocks were set to rise
on Friday after U.S. shares rallied and the dollar eased
overnight, as fears of social-media driven hedge fund selling
abated and the U.S. earnings season got off to a strong start.
Concern about a hedge-fund rout that gripped the market on
Wednesday eased after trading platforms Robinhood and
Interactive Brokers restricted trading in GameStop GME.N ,
BlackBerry BB.N and other stocks that soared this week on
speculative retail buying. "There seems to be a concerted effort to rein in some of
this speculative behavior," said Kyle Rodda, market analyst at
IG Markets in Melbourne.
In early Asian trade, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 benchmark
.AXJO was up 1.15%, Japan's Nikkei JNIc1 futures rose 1.39%
and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures HSIc1 gained 1.47%.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
0.99%, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.98% and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 0.5%.
Stocks in Europe closed little changed as countries grappled
with new variants of the coronavirus amid extended lockdowns
that may weigh on near-term economic growth. The broad
FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 added 0.01% to 1,554.45.
The dollar dipped as risk sentiment improved following fresh
U.S. economic data showing jobless claims declined in the latest
week and U.S. gross domestic product was not as bad as feared.
The U.S. economy contracted at its sharpest pace since World
War Two in 2020 as COVID-19 ravaged restaurants and airlines,
throwing millions of Americans out of work and into poverty. But
GDP grew at a 4% annualized rate in the fourth quarter, in line
with economists' forecasts. The data "straddled a healthy middle ground that showed the
U.S. economy continuing to recover" while not yet strong enough
to undercut the need for another large fiscal stimulus, Rodda
said.
The dollar index =USD was down 0.156%, with the euro
EUR= unchanged at $1.2121 in early Asian trading.
The greenback had been boosted earlier in the week by
safe-haven buying on concerns that U.S. fiscal stimulus will be
smaller than hoped and that COVID-19 will continue to spread as
countries struggle to roll out vaccines.
The U.S. currency has rebounded from three-year lows touched
earlier this month and the dollar index is up 0.50% this month
after falling 6.75% last year.
But there were still concerns about fragile economies
putting pressure on overall high valuations. Stricter vaccine
checks by the European Union and delivery hold-ups from
AstraZeneca Plc AZN.L and Pfizer Inc PFE.N have slowed the
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