*

Investor Scott Bessent named as US Treasury Secretary

*

Nikkei rallies 1.6%, Australian stocks reach record high

*

Dollar drops 0.7% vs yen, retreats 0.6% vs euro

(Updates prices after China market open)

By Tom Westbrook

SINGAPORE, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Asian stocks rallied with

U.S. equity futures on Monday, while the dollar retreated

against rivals as bond yields slid following the selection of

fund manager Scott Bessent as the next U.S. Treasury secretary,

with investors expecting he will be a voice for markets in

Washington.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares

climbed 1.6% as of 0143 GMT, and U.S. S&P 500

futures pointed 0.5% higher to just shy of a record

high, after a 0.3% gain for the cash index at the end of

last week. Bessent's appointment came late on Friday, after Wall

Street had shut.

The dollar dropped 0.7% against the yen and 0.6%

versus the euro as traders snapped up Treasuries,

sending the benchmark U.S. long-term yield down some

7 basis points to as low as 4.341% on Monday.

"The market view (is) that Bessent is a 'safe hands'

candidate," said Stephen Spratt, strategist at Societe Generale,

a relief as the risk of a more unorthodox pick was priced out of

markets.

Japan's Nikkei jumped 1.6% and South Korea's Kospi

climbed 1.5%. Australia's share market rose 0.7%

and reached a record high.

Chinese markets were heavy though, weighed by the threat of

massive tariffs under the incoming Donald Trump administration

and underwhelming stimulus announcements so far from Beijing.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.2%, while mainland blue

chips eased 0.2%.

The week's trade is likely to be lightened by Thursday's

Thanksgiving holiday in the United States.

President-elect Trump's appointment of a Treasury secretary

has been closely watched in bond markets as expectations of tax

cuts as well as tariffs and an immigration crackdown have stoked

fears of inflation and big deficits.

Bessent told CNBC earlier in November, before his selection

as Treasury secretary, that he would recommend "tariffs be

layered in gradually".

He has advocated, in a Bloomberg interview, for the U.S. to

grow its way out of large debts and, in the Wall Street Journal

for tax reform and deregulation, particularly to spur bank

lending and energy production.

He spent his career working for billionaire investor George

Soros and noted short seller Jim Chanos as well as running his

own hedge fund.

The yen last stood at 153.76 per dollar. The

currency pair tends to closely follow moves in Treasury yields.

The euro changed hands at $1.0477, rebounding from

Friday's two-year trough at $1.03315.

Sterling climbed 0.5% to $1.2592. On Friday, it

slumped to the weakest since early May at $1.2475.

The Aussie dollar bounced 0.6% to $0.6538 and the

kiwi, which slid to a one-year low on Friday on

increasing bets on a dovish central bank, jumped 0.5% to

$0.5865. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand meets on Wednesday with

a 50 bp rate cut fully priced and markets implying about a 1/3

chance of a super-sized 75 bp cut.

Bitcoin ticked up slightly from Sunday to $97,511. On

Friday, it reached a record peak of $99,830 amid expectations of

a more friendly regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies

under Trump.

The token is up about 45% since Trump's sweeping election

victory on Nov. 5, when voters also elected a slew of pro-crypto

lawmakers to Congress.

Crude oil hovered near two-week highs as geopolitical

tensions heightened between Western powers and major oil

producers Russia and Iran, raising risks of supply disruption.

Brent crude futures climbed 0.2% to $75.30 a barrel,

while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were at

$71.38 a barrel, up 0.2%. Both benchmarks rallied about 6% last

week.

(Editing by Kim Coghill and Stephen Coates)