Asian shares becalmed as Greek talks drag

By Alex Richardson

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Asian shares remained becalmed on Wednesday and the euro edged off an 8-week high as further delay in agreeing on details of a new Greek bailout package tempered the optimism that had driven U.S. stocks and commodities higher.

U.S. crude edged up, supported by an unplanned outage at a Canadian oil sands plant, and gold clung to the previous session's gains, which had been driven by a weaker dollar.

"Despite uncertainty about the Greek situation, global markets have remained steady, with the recently positive economic data out of the United States supporting gains for the time being," said Yumi Nishimura, senior technical analyst at Daiwa Securities.

While most market players believe Greece is close to a deal, politicians in Athens have yet to sign off on painful austerity measures that are a condition of a second bailout package. They have again pushed back the deadline for agreement to Wednesday.

Failure to secure the 130 billion euro rescue package could push Greece into a chaotic default and threaten the stability of the entire euro zone.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was flat. The index has risen 12 percent so far this year, outpacing a 7 percent rise for Wall Street's S&P 500, but has been treading water much of this week.

Japan's Nikkei rose 0.6 percent, outperforming the rest of the region, buoyed by a better-than-expected profit outlook from Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T>.

The euro bought around $1.3248, down a little on the day, after jumping 1 percent in the previous session to $1.3270, its highest since mid-December.

Anxiety over the progress of the Greek talks took the shine off the single currency.

"There seems to be a lot of complacency in the market," said Rob Ryan, a strategist at BNP Paribas in Singapore. "How long can you give the process the benefit of the doubt."

In commodity markets, U.S. crude rose 0.2 percent to $98.63 a barrel, while spot gold was virtually unchanged around $1,745 an ounce.

(Additional reporting by Mari Saito in Tokyo and Cecile Lefort in Sydney; Editing by Michael Perry)