*

Gold extends steep fall as investors exit crowded

positions

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Planned summit between Trump and Putin on hold; Trump-Xi

meeting

uncertain

*

Shares ease; Nikkei runs into profit-taking

*

Currencies rangebound ahead of c.bank meetings

By Rae Wee

SINGAPORE, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Global shares slipped on

Wednesday and gold pulled back sharply from a blistering rally,

as stretched valuations came under scrutiny and investors booked

profits.

Geopolitics loomed large. A planned summit between U.S.

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin was

put on hold and ambiguity lingered over a potential meeting

between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Despite Washington and Beijing striking a more conciliatory

tone in recent times, Trump added to the uncertainty over the

meeting on Tuesday, saying that "maybe it won't happen".

The overnight dive in gold was the main focus for

markets, after prices of the yellow metal sank more than 5% on

Tuesday despite no obvious catalyst. It last traded 0.6% lower

at $4,098.89 an ounce.

The precious metal has had a blockbuster run this year,

climbing more than 50% as broader geopolitical and economic

uncertainty, as well as expectations of U.S. interest rate cuts,

spurred demand for the safe-haven asset.

"Gold was massively stretched, massively overbought. There's

been a lot of FOMO (fear of missing out) going into that

market," said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG.

"It's one of those situations whereby when positions become

stretched - and you'd have to say that the Nasdaq is certainly

in that boat as well, for some of these other frothy markets,

we're seeing little flash crashes now...We're just seeing little

tremors in markets, and potentially there's something more

significant to come."

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan

was down 0.24%, while Nasdaq futures fell

0.2% and S&P 500 futures dipped 0.07% after a mixed cash

session on Wall Street.

Shares of Netflix ( NFLX ) sank nearly 6% after the bell as

the streaming giant missed Wall Street's third-quarter earnings

targets, while General Motors' ( GM ) stock surged 15% after the

company raised its profit outlook for the year.

Elsewhere, EUROSTOXX 50 futures fell 0.5%, while

FTSE futures eased 0.15% and DAX futures lost

0.26%.

Japan's Nikkei fell 0.9%, in line with the broader

market, though that followed two days of strong gains on

expectations of greater fiscal stimulus under the country's new

prime minister Sanae Takaichi.

"We expect 'Sanaenomics' to be broadly positive for the

equities market," said Louis Chua, a research analyst at Julius

Baer.

He expects further upside for the Nikkei, supported by the

"twin tailwinds of corporate reform and a pro-growth

reflationary path with Takaichi's election".

In China, the CSI300 blue-chip index fell 0.2%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 0.42%.

WAITING ON CENTRAL BANK CUES

In currencies, the yen was nursing losses after

sliding nearly 0.8% in the previous session on the back of

Takaichi's win, which investors expect could muddy the outlook

for the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) rate-hike path.

The BOJ meets next week, where expectations are for the

central bank to stand pat on rates.

"The likelihood of a rate hike in October has remained low

for some time," said analysts at Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities

in a note.

"Whether there will be a subtle positive change in Governor

(Kazuo) Ueda's comments during the press conference, namely in

his evaluation of tariff impacts on the U.S. economy and their

effects on Japanese companies, will likely become an important

point in assessing the possibility of a rate hike at the next

December meeting."

The U.S. Federal Reserve also announces its rate decision

next week, and investors have almost fully priced in a

25-basis-point rate cut.

The dearth of U.S. economic data due to the ongoing

government shutdown means that policymakers could be left flying

blind at the meeting, a less-than-ideal situation as they remain

divided over which risks deserve the most attention.

Trump on Tuesday rebuffed a request by top Democratic

lawmakers to meet until the three-week-old U.S. government

shutdown ends.

The shutdown has in turn left currencies largely rangebound

over the past few sessions due to the lack of fresh catalysts

from data releases, though the dollar was largely steady

on Wednesday, helped by a weaker yen.

The euro last bought $1.1604, while sterling

dipped slightly to $1.3370.

In commodities, oil prices edged higher, with Brent crude

futures up 0.31% at $61.51 a barrel, while U.S. crude

rose 0.38% to $57.46 per barrel.