In This Article:
* MSCI Asia-Pacific index down 0.45 pct, Nikkei loses 0.35 pct
* Spreadbetters expect European stocks to open slightly higher
* Safe haven bids amid broader risk aversion push up dollar
* Oil bounces modestly after big slide, but market still shaky
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2018 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
By Shinichi Saoshiro
TOKYO, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Asian stocks slipped on Wednesday as intensifying concerns about global economic growth gripped financial markets, sending Wall Street shares tumbling and driving the safe haven dollar up from a two-week low.
Spreadbetters expected European stocks to open slightly higher on bargain hunting after several days of losses, with Britain's FTSE edging up 0.15 percent, Germany's DAX gaining 0.3 percent and France's CAC rising 0.25 percent.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.45 percent.
The Shanghai Composite Index swerved in and out of the red and was last down 0.05 percent.
Australian stocks lost 0.5 percent, South Korea's KOSPI retreated 0.4 percent and Japan's Nikkei fell 0.35 percent.
U.S. stocks sold off for a second day on Tuesday as energy shares dropped with oil prices, while retailers including Target and Kohl's sank after weak earnings and forecasts, fuelling worries about economic growth.
The Nasdaq closed at its lowest in more than seven months on Tuesday while the S&P 500 and Dow ended at their weakest since late October.
"It is difficult to pinpoint a single factor driving the global risk aversion. Apple and trade tensions seem to be touted as factors every other day, but it is difficult to blame them for all the woes," said Soichiro Monji, senior economist at Daiwa SB Investments.
"The markets appear to be starting to prepare for a loss of momentum in the global economy, although it is doing quite well at the moment."
The recent downturn in global equities has been led in part by a decline in U.S. technology shares, a group which had helped propel Wall Street's long bull market.
"We are anticipating more weakness in China, and a sharp slowdown in the United States next year. Given the highly-cyclical nature of the information technology (IT) sector, we have been arguing for a while that growth in its earnings would be hit especially hard in these circumstances," wrote economists at Capital Economics.
The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies was little changed at 96.776 after rallying 0.7 percent overnight, when it pulled away from a two-week trough of 96.042.
Earlier in the week, cautious comments by Federal Reserve officials about the global economic outlook knocked the dollar to two-week troughs as they suggested the central bank could slow the pace of or even end its monetary policy tightening cycle.