Asian shares dragged down by Wall Street's earnings woes

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian stocks got off to a bumpy start on Wednesday after earnings dragged down U.S. equities, while the dollar edged away from highs hit earlier this week.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> was down 0.2 percent in early trading.

Japan's Nikkei stock index <.N225> was down 0.8 percent in early trading, pulling away from Tuesday's nearly four-week closing high.

S&P 500 mini futures were down about 0.4 percent from late U.S. levels, after Wall Street skidded on weak earnings from bellwethers IBM and United Technologies while Apple slumped in late trading after posting its results.

Spot gold edged down about 0.1 percent on the day to $1,099.40 per ounce, after plunging to five-year lows on Monday as investors unloaded bullion against a backdrop of improving risk sentiment as Greece agreed on a plan with its creditors that will keep it in the euro zone for now.

"Our commodities strategists believe gold should range-trade around current levels, but they do not dismiss the possibility of further price falls, given the lack of safe-haven interest," strategists at Barclays wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday.

Standard & Poor's on Tuesday upgraded Greece's sovereign credit rating by two notches and revised its outlook to stable from negative, citing euro zone countries' initial agreement to start negotiations with Athens on a third bailout.

The euro edged up 0.1 percent on the day to $1.0941 , pulling away from Monday's three-month low of $1.0808.

The greenback took a breather against other counterparts as well, with the dollar index down slightly at 97.293 <.DXY> after rising as high as 98.151 in the previous session, its highest level since late April.

The dollar was steady on the day against the yen at 123.86 yen after scaling a six-week high of 124.48 yen on Tuesday.

Even as the dollar's uptrend paused, crude oil futures remained under pressure as investors worried about ample supply.

U.S. crude was down 0.6 percent at $50.58, while Brent shed about 0.4 percent to $56.82.

(Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

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