In This Article:
* MSCI ex-Japan up 0.17 pct, Nikkei down 0.3 pct
* Sterling hits 11-week high vs dollar
* Asian stock markets: https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
By Daniel Leussink
TOKYO, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Asian shares rose on Thursday after Wall Street managed to end higher, but gains were capped by political uncertainty in the United States and worries about weakening global economic growth.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.2 percent. It has gained 3.8 percent so far this month.
Australian shares were 0.1 percent higher while Japan's Nikkei lost more than 0.3 percent in early trade.
On Wall Street, all three major U.S. equity indexes closed in positive territory, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average booking the largest gains on upbeat quarterly results from International Business Machines and other major firms. The S&P 500 gained 0.22 percent.
But demand for riskier assets continued to be dented by uncertainty over the U.S. government shutdown, and the yet-unresolved trade standoff between the United States and China.
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said in a CNN interview the U.S. economy could see zero growth in the first three months if the partial government shutdown lasts for the whole quarter.
"Equity prices are likely to consolidate as long as there's no economic data out of the United States or China that show the slowdown is deeper than what the market already assumes," said Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management.
On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the United States was doing well in trade talks with China, saying at a White House event that China "very much wants to make a deal."
Analysts at Capital Economics warned that China's economic slowdown looks set to be of a similar scale to that in 2015-16, though there are some significant differences so far, most notably less downward pressure on the yuan and no signs of major capital outflows.
"Against a backdrop of various concerns about other economies, weakness in China adds to reasons to expect a marked global slowdown," they wrote in a note.
"Since China makes up 19 percent of the world economy, the slowdown this year compared to last will knock 0.2pps (percentage points) off global growth."
CENTRAL BANK MEETINGS
Investors' focus also turned to the European Central Bank.
The ECB is widely expected to stay on hold at its first monetary policy meeting of 2019 that ends later on Thursday, but may acknowledge a sharp slowdown in growth, raising the prospect that any further policy normalisation could be delayed.