* MSCI Asia ex-Japan fall 0.3 pct, Nikkei opens down 0.5 pct

* Euro down 0.1 pct vs dollar, stays below 100 yen

By Chikako Mogi

TOKYO, Jan 5 (Reuters) – Asian shares and the euro
eased on Thursday as concerns about the ability of euro zone
countries to refinance their huge public debt dampened investor
risk appetite ahead of a French bond auction later in the day.

The euro zone’s sovereign funding plans and U.S. economic
data, including U.S. jobs figures due on Friday, are the primary
focus for market participants to gauge whether investors would
take or avert risk.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan
fell 0.3 percent after rising to its highest in
nearly a month on Wednesday. Japan’s Nikkei stock average
opened down 0.5 percent, after reaching a three-week
high the day before.

U.S. stocks fared better than European peers, ending nearly
flat on Wednesday after data showed new U.S. factory goods
orders rose solidly in November while business capital spending
cooled.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares
closed down 0.63 percent, dragged down by bank shares after
Italy’s UniCredit SpA launched a 7.5 billion euro
($9.68 billion) rights issue at a huge discount on Wednesday.

The terms reflected the difficulty some European lenders are
facing to raise capital to repair their weakened balance sheet,
and could discourage other lenders from tapping the market and
instead turn to further shrinking their assets, cut jobs or
dividends.

“Europe still lacks a credible mechanism to rekindle growth,
and without growth the crisis can only intensify,” said Russell
Jones, analyst at Westpac Bank.

The euro eased 0.1 percent to around $1.2930 on
Thursday, nearing a 2011 low of around $1.2856 hit on Dec. 29.
A break below that will take it back to levels not seen since
September 2010. The euro stayed below 100 yen, not far above
98.71 yen hit on Monday, its lowest since late 2000.

France plans to raise up to 8 billion euros in long-term
debt on Thursday but a key litmus test for investor confidence
is next week’s debt sales by Spain and Italy, the two countries
most exposed to the crisis.

This follows Wednesday’s 10-year German Bunds auction, which
drew a subdued demand of bids amounting to 1.3 times the amount
offered. But the result was a sharp improvement from a November
sale which was one of the country’s least successful since the
introduction of the euro and raised fears the debt crisis was
spreading to the euro zone’s strongest economy.

On top of the euro zone debt crisis and its impact to the
financial system, European shares and the euro may be weighed
further by geopolitical risk as tension escalates between Iran
and the West, which is forging a concerted Western campain to
hold back Tehran’s nuclear programme.

On Wednesday, eroding investor confidence in euro zone’s
funding efforts pushed industrial metals lower, sending London
Metal Exchange (LME) three-month copper down 3 percent
to close at $7,540 a tonne. Spot gold rose to a two-week high of
$1,618.06 an ounce. Gold was steady at $1,611 on Thursday.

Brent February crude hit a seven-week high of
$113.97 per barrel on Wednesday, after European governments
agreed in principle to ban imports of Iranian oil.

U.S. crude was down 0.1 percent to $103.13 a barrel
on Thursday.

Asian credit markets were subdued early on Thursday, with
spreads on the iTraxx Asia ex-Japan investment grade index
barely changed.