GLOBAL MARKETS-Shares fall in thin trade, oil slips after jump on Iran
* MSCI Asia ex-Japan down 0.3 pct, Nikkei opens down 0.17 pct
* Euro hovers above 11-month low vs dollar. US crude down 0.2 pct after rising more than $2
TOKYO, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Asian shares eased on Wednesday in low volume with many market players away for year-end holidays, while oil slipped after surging the day before on concerns about supply disruptions after Iran threatened to stop the flow of oil from the Gulf.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> fell 0.3 percent, keeping it on track for a yearly loss of about 17 percent, underperforming a 12 percent decline in European shares and a 9 percent drop in world stocks <.MIWD00000PUS>.
Japan's Nikkei stock average <.N225> opened down 0.17 percent in light trading, on track for a 17 percent decline this year.
U.S. stocks ended little changed on Tuesday after low market liquidity dampened activity and snapped a four-day rally that turned the broad Standard & Poor's 500 Index positive for the year.
"More people wanting to bring their positions to neutral ahead of the new year's holidays than looking for bargains is keeping prices depressed in low volumes," said Tetsuro Ii, the president of Commons Asset Management.
U.S. crude oil was down 0.2 percent to $101.16 a barrel, after surging more than $2 to $101.77 on Tuesday on concerns over supply disruptions from the Middle East. Iran threatened to cut off a key oil shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz if foreign sanctions are imposed on its oil exports. Aside from oil, the immediate impact to financial markets was limited.
The euro was steady at $1.3067, staying above its 11-month trough of $1.2945 hit earlier this month, but remained vulnerable ahead of Italy's debt sale on Thursday. [FRX/] Italy's planned debt sale of up to 8.5 billion euros on Thursday will provide a gauge for investor appetite. Italy faces around 100 billion euros in bond redemptions and coupon payments between January and April.
The direction of yields on highly-indebted euro zone sovereigns remains a key market focus in 2012, as soaring public financing burden threatens to hurt growth and further derail fiscal reforms.
Interbank euro lending rates eased on Tuesday in a sign the European Central Bank's massive injection of funds via a long-term lending operation was having a positive effect. But despite the ECB's move aimed at encouraging lending, many believe banks will likely use the funds to repay their debt and clean their balance sheet of bad assets first, to defend themselves from market turmoil stemming from the euro zone debt crisis, rather than lend and help spur European economies.
In the United States, more data emerged to support views the economy was on track for recovery, with improving labour market conditions lifting U.S. consumer confidence to an eight-month high in December.
