By Sanjeev Miglani
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar headed toward a 15-year low against the yen on Tuesday and Japanese shares slid as weak U.S. data added to worries about a global slowdown.
Other Asian stock markets were slightly firmer although analysts said there was little reason for them to rise much higher given the weak sentiment.
"We are worried that some people are saying there is a 25 percent chance of a double-dip recession, and some people are talking about deflation," said Peter McGuire, managing director at CWA Global Markets in Sydney.
The dollar slid as low as 85.11 yen in early Asian trade, within sight of a 15-year low of 84.72 yen reached last week.
Traders said it is only matter of time before the greenback drops below 85.00 yen and threatens to pass last week's milestone due to the general mood of risk aversion.
The MSCI share index for Asia excluding Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> rose 0.60 percent following Wall Street's relatively flat finish. Last week the index lost nearly 2.9 percent on growing concerns about the global recovery, its worst performance in six weeks.
U.S. home builders' optimism hit a near 1- year low in August and a regional manufacturing gauge grew more slowly than expected, the data showed on Monday, after Japan reported growth slowing to a crawl in the second quarter.
Reflecting concerns of a slowing U.S. recovery from the longest and deepest recession since the 1930, investors turned to safe havens buying government bonds and gold and cutting back on risky positions.
Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei average <.N225> slid 0.7 percent, drawing close to a 13-month low hit last week.
The Nikkei's downward move came to a halt below 9,100 for the third time in four trading days, buoyed for now by short-covering. But market players said further moves depended on the yen's performance and that the 9,000 level, which has held since May 2009, could well prove vulnerable soon.
"There's a lot of worry about what could happen if the Nikkei falls below 9,000. It's served as support for quite some time but could well break if the yen continues to gain strength," said Toshiyuki Kanayama, market analyst at Monex Inc.
Japanese government bond futures hit a seven-year high after a rally in the U.S. government debt where the 30-month bond yield neared a 16-month low.
Crude declined for a sixth day on Tuesday as concern grew that the global economic recovery was withering, following disappointing data from the United States and Japan, the world's largest and third-largest oil consumers.
U.S. crude for September delivery shed 11 cents to $75.13 a barrel at 8:32 p.m. Monday EDT, while October ICE Brent fell 14 cents to $75.49.
Gold gained, holding near its strongest level in more than a month struck the previous day after the fall in the U.S. dollar and the Nikkei.
(Editing by Kazunori Takada)
