*

Dollar droops after dovish comments from Fed Governor

Waller

*

Chinese shares supported as 2024 GDP hits Beijing's 5%

target

*

Yen hits new high on growing bets for BOJ rate hike next

week

*

Japan's Nikkei underperforms region as strong currency

weighs

(Changes dateline, updates with Asia markets open)

By Sinéad Carew and Kevin Buckland

TOKYO, Jan 17 (Reuters) - The tone in global stocks

turned weaker on Friday as Asian shares tracked overnight losses

on Wall Street, even as bond yields slid amid a revival in bets

that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in June.

Japanese equities were standout underperformers, with the

Nikkei on course for its worst week in three months, buckling

under the weight of a resurgent yen amid rising bets for a Bank

of Japan rate hike next week.

Chinese stocks drew some support after official figures

showed the economy

expanded 5.4%

in the fourth-quarter year-on-year, much stronger than

expected and putting full-year 2024 growth at 5%, bang in the

centre of Beijing's target.

Mainland Chinese blue chips were up 0.3% as of

0207 GMT, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.14%.

China's yuan strengthened slightly to 7.34 per

dollar in offshore trading.

Japan's Nikkei slumped 1.1%

MSCI's world index edged down 0.05%. Its

broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares lost 0.4%.

Meanwhile, U.S. S&P 500 futures pointed 0.1% higher

after the cash index closed down 0.2% overnight. Those small

declines came after a 1.8% jump on Wednesday - the biggest daily

percentage gain since the post-election rally on Nov. 6 - fueled

by strong bank earnings at the start of the new reporting

season.

The end of the week is likely to be a cautious one

though, ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration as U.S. President

on Monday, which is also a market holiday for Martin Luther King

Jr. Day.

"Investors are enjoying the re-anchoring of the market

narrative to company fundamentals and away from the macro, with

earnings season so far proving robust," said Kyle Rodda, senior

financial market analyst at Capital.com.

At the same time, declines in the dollar and bond yields

come as "fears of sticky or re-accelerating inflation and a

prolonged pause or an end to the Fed's cutting cycle eased," he

said.

Ten-year U.S. Treasury yields stood at 4.6125%

in the latest session, after sliding to the lowest since Jan. 6

at 4.5880% on Thursday, when Fed Governor Christopher Waller

said three or four interest cuts this year are still possible if

U.S. economic data weakens.

Traders now see the Fed's June meeting as a likely time for

another quarter-point rate reduction.

Ten-year Japanese government bond yields

eased along with overnight moves in Treasuries, even as comments

from BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda and one of his deputies, Ryozo

Himino, this week spurred a rise in bets for a quarter-point

hike on Jan. 24 to 79%.

The yen pushed to a fresh one-month high of 154.98 per

dollar on Friday, with the U.S. currency also sagging

on the prospect of earlier Fed cuts.

The dollar index - which measures the greenback

against a basket of six major currencies, including the yen -

edged down 0.06% to 108.90.

The euro was little changed at $1.0308, while

the beleaguered sterling was flat at $1.2237.

Declines in bond yields supported alternative assets.

Bitcoin edged as high as $101,769.43 for the first

time since Jan. 7.

Gold stood at $2,714, hovering close to

Thursday's high of $2,724.55, its strongest level in more than a

month.

Fed rate cut speculation also buoyed crude oil.

Brent crude futures rose 13 cents, or 0.2%, to

$81.42 per barrel, after declining 0.9% in the previous session.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 were up 27

cents, or 0.3%, to $78.95 a barrel, following a 1.7% drop.