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• Air India flew Dreamliners after grounding order-official

  NEW DELHI, Feb 4- Air India flew some of its Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner aircraft even after U.S. regulators grounded the global fleet last month due to undiagnosed battery problems. Dreamliners operated by India's national carrier were flown to Mumbai for maintenance reasons, Arun Mishra, the head of India's civil aviation regulator, said on Monday.

• Nikkei closes at 33-month high, volume highest since March 2011

  *Sony jumps, still undervalued- analyst. TOKYO, Feb 4- Japan's Nikkei share average hit a fresh 33- month peak on Monday as exporters kept rising and hints of recovery for troubled consumer electronics companies Panasonic Corp and Sharp Corp attracted retail investors.

• UPDATE 1-JAL wants to discuss 787 grounding compensation with Boeing

  TOKYO, Feb 4- Japan Airlines Co Ltd said it will talk to Boeing Co about compensation for the grounding of the 787 Dreamliner, adding that the idling of its jets would cost it nearly $8 million from its earnings through to the end of March.

• UPDATE 1-Japan carmakers Jan China sales jump after weak year-ago sales

  *Nissan sales up 22.2 pct, Honda up 22 pct. Feb 4- Nissan Motor Co Ltd and other Japanese carmakers saw their China car sales improve in January but figures were skewed due to weak holiday-hit sales a year earlier and questions still hang over progress made since anti- Japan protests last year.

• FOREX-Yen steadies off 2 1-2/year low, but seen fragile

  TOKYO/ SYDNEY, Feb 4- The yen steadied slightly off a 2 1/ 2- year low against the dollar on Monday as option-related buying prompted short-term players to refrain from testing the Japanese currency's downside for now.

• Ten-year JGB yields hit 3-week high at 0.80 pct after U.S. data

  TOKYO, Feb 4- Japanese government bonds slipped on Monday, with the 10- year yield hitting a three-week high, after U.S. jobs and manufacturing surveys showed a recovery in the world's largest economy remained on track. "That's the biggest driver on the JGB yields today," said Yuya Yamashita, rates strategist at J.P. Morgan in Tokyo.

• Nikkei rises for 5th day to a new 33-month high, Panasonic soars

  TOKYO, Feb 4- Japan's Nikkei share average climbed for a fifth straight day to a fresh 33- month peak on Monday as a softer yen led exporters higher, and hints of a recovery for troubled consumer electronics companies saw Panasonic Corp and Sharp Corp attract buying from retail investors.

• Japan Equities Undervalued 

  

  Nicholas Ferres, Investment Director, Global Asset Allocation at Eastspring Investments says on a cash earnings basis Japanese equities are still undervalued.

• PRECIOUS-Gold crawls up but economic recovery hopes limit gains

  *Spot gold neutral in $1,657.54- $1,681.70/ oz- technicals. Investors remain fairly optimistic in the U.S. recovery, which makes gold less attractive, even though recent data is rather a mixed bag, "said Chen Min, an analyst at Jinrui Futures in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen."

• Nikkei hovers around 33-month high on soft yen, Panasonic soars

  *Sony jumps, still undervalued- analyst. TOKYO, Feb 4- Japan's Nikkei share average climbed to a fresh 33- month peak on Monday morning as a softer yen led exporters higher, and hints of a recovery for troubled consumer electronics companies saw Panasonic Corp storm up 16.9 percent in heavy trade.

• Ten-year JGB yields climb to 3-week high after U.S. data

  TOKYO, Feb 4- Japanese government bonds slipped on Monday, with the 10- year yield hitting a three-week high, after U.S. jobs and manufacturing data showed a recovery in the world's largest economy remained on track. * "That's the biggest driver on the JGB yields today," said Yuya Yamashita, rates strategist at J.P. Morgan in Tokyo.

• FOREX-Yen creeps up from 2 1-2/year low but seen vulnerable

  TOKYO/ SYDNEY, Feb 4- The listless yen bounced back a tad from a 2 1/ 2- year low against the dollar on Monday as option-related buying prompted short-term players to give up a further test of the yen downside for now.

• TREASURIES-U.S. 10-yr yield hits 9-mth high after upbeat data

  SINGAPORE, Feb 4- The U.S. 10- year Treasury yield hit a nine-month high on Monday after jobs and manufacturing data on Friday showed the U.S. economy's recovery remained on track and helped lift equities to five-year highs.

• Nikkei hovers at 33-month highs on U.S. recovery signs, weak yen

  TOKYO, Feb 4- Japan's Nikkei share average climbed to a fresh 33- month high in early Monday trade, with consumer electronics in the spotlight on the back of a recovery in the third quarter, and a softer yen keeping exporters ahead of the market.

• JGB market sentiment worsens sharply - Thomson Reuters survey

  TOKYO, Feb 4- A weekly gauge of sentiment in the Japanese government bond market deteriorated sharply, remaining in negative territory for a fifth straight week as rising global appetite for risk sapped demand for bonds, the latest Reuters poll showed on Monday.

• Hong Kong shares may start the week higher

  HONG KONG, Feb 4- Hong Kong shares could start the week higher on Monday, tracking Wall Street gains last Friday after positive U.S. jobs data that solidified expectation of growth.

• Can the Nikkei Retest Its Previous High? 

  

  Tim Condon, Head of Research, Asia, ING Financial Markets says that bear markets like the Nikkei can touch new highs, once a recovery is in place.

• GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian shares edge higher after US jobs, ISM

  TOKYO, Feb 4- Asian shares edged higher on Monday, buoyed by U.S. data which maintained expectations for a mild recovery and continued loose Federal Reserve monetary policy to support it, bolstered by solid manufacturing data from Europe and China.

• Will North Asia Shine in 2013? 

  

  Khiem Do, Head of Asian Multi-Asset, Baring Asset Management, Hong Kong explains why marginal money will chase the North Asian markets. He adds that Taiwan and South Korea will be the exception to this trend this year.

• This Week, Watch What Central Bankers Say, Not Do

  

  Central banking is in a state of flux as policymakers from Tokyo to Washington ditch prevailing orthodoxies to try to grab a bigger share of a slow-growing global economic pie.