Asian shares mostly gain

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The euro was under pressure on Thursday after Portugal’s prime minister resigned following parliament’s rejection of his austerity plans, while Asian stocks outside Japan rose as higher commodities prices lifted materials shares.

The resignation of Prime Minister Jose Socrates was seen as increasing the likelihood that Portugal will join Greece and Ireland in requiring a bailout from the European Union.

An official euro zone source estimated in January that if Portugal asked for international aid, it might need between 60 billion to 80 billion euros (up to $113 billion).

Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 0.2 percent. It remains 8 percent below its close on March 11, when a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami hit northeast Japan , leaving around 25,600 people dead or missing and cutting powers to millions of homes and factories.

The estimated $300 billion in damage makes it the costliest natural disaster in history, and Japan is still grappling with the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl after the quake and tsunami crippled a power plant 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.

“We are unlikely to see further gains in the near future, unless there’s an end to the nuclear crisis in sight,” said Takashi Hiroki, chief strategist at Monex Securities.

Disruptions in the global supply chain after the Japan quake continue to be felt around the world, most notably for auto makers and electronics firms. Toyota Motor said overnight it will slow some North American production because of parts shortages.

MSCI’s measure of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.7 percent, with Australia’s resources-heavy index gaining 0.8 percent after a rally in prices of base metals such as copper.

Gains for materials shares lifted Wall Street on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average rising 0.6 percent and the broader S&P 500 gaining 0.3 percent.

The political upheaval in Portugal, along with looming elections elsewhere, was expected to prevent European leaders from taking tough decisions to address the region’s sovereign debt crisis when they meet at a summit this week.

Instead, they are unlikely to come up with a plan to strengthen the euro zone’s bailout fund until June, which may also undermine the single currency.

“If the EU leaders fail to come up with measures to enhance the safety net that markets have wanted in their summit meeting, the euro could face further pressure down the road,” said Sumino Kamei, senior currency analyst at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

The euro bought around $1.4085 , having dropped as far as $1.4075 on electronic trading platform EBS in late New York trade on Wednesday.

The yen sat near 81 per dollar, a level it has hugged tightly in recent days with markets still wary of further central bank intervention to curb the Japanese currency if it strengthens past 80.50.

Leading central banks launched the first coordinated market intervention in more than a decade last week to reverse a run that had seen the yen hit a record 76.25 on expectations Japan -- a net creditor to the rest of the world -- would see a wave of funds being repatriated to pay for earthquake reconstruction.

Oil eased despite continued political unrest in parts of the Middle East, with U.S. crude down 0.5 percent to $105.24 a barrel and Brent crude off 0.3 percent at $115.19.

Spot gold traded around $1,437.35 an ounce, in sight of its record $1,444.40 set earlier in the month.