* U.S., German bond yields spike to five-month peaks
* Spreadbetters see slightly lower open for European stocks
* Dollar skids as soft data lengthens odds on Fed hike
* Bond market selloff dents relative appeal of equities
By Wayne Cole and Shinichi Saoshiro
SYDNEY/TOKYO, May 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar was broadly lower on Thursday after poor U.S. retail sales figures proved a huge disappointment to those expecting a strong American economic rebound from a weather-weakened first quarter.
Spreadbetters expected higher bond yields resulting in a slightly lower open for Britain's FTSE, Germany's DAX and France's CAC.
Investors reacted by pushing back the likely lift-off date for a rate hike by the Federal Reserve, giving gold a steer to five-week highs above $1,218 an ounce.
Yet in a bizarre turn, German and U.S. bond yields still surged to their highest in over five months as a vicious selloff extended to its 10th session.
"Global rates markets have seemingly nowhere to hide," said Bill O'Donnell, head of Treasury strategy at RBS. "Rates flows illustrated that the resolve of sellers is still unyielding."
The startling rise in yields has made equities look more expensive in comparison to debt and kept Asian share markets subdued. Australian, Singaporean and Thai stocks declined, while Chinese and South Korean shares posted modest gains. Japan's Nikkei underperformed and fell 1 percent.
"I think the market is starting to price in an end of super-easy monetary policy around the world," said Takashi Hiroki, chief strategist at Monex Securities in Tokyo.
The rise in bond yields would be among the biggest concerns for the market, Hiroki said, noting that U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and billionaire investor Warren Buffett have warned that stock valuations would be expensive if interest rates rise.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was virtually flat.
Moves were far wilder in bond markets.
Yields on German 10-year paper jumped to 0.727 percent, the highest close since early December, having been as low as 0.599 percent at one stage on Wednesday.
The selling spilled over into markets globally, with 10-year Treasury yields also ending at five-month highs. That performance was all the more bearish given an auction of new paper had drawn strong demand during the session and the data was so disappointing.
Headline U.S. retail sales were unchanged in April as autos and fuel fell back as expected, but what really hurt was that other sectors failed to bounce. The core control measure of sales favoured by economists was flat in the month, confounding forecasts for a healthy rise of 0.5 percent.