* Nikkei leads Asia shares higher as earnings lift Wall St
* China markets mixed as PBOC cuts bank reserve requirements
* IMF sticks with global growth call but sees mounting risks
* U.S. yield curve flattens as investors fret on economic outlook
* European shares seen opening 0.2-0.3 pct higher
By Wayne Cole
SYDNEY, April 18 (Reuters) - Asian shares crept ahead on Wednesday after Wall Street took heart from upbeat corporate earnings, though nagging concerns about trade barriers and the global growth outlook kept currencies and bonds subdued.
Chinese markets struggled even as Beijing boosted liquidity in the banking system. Shanghai blue chips .CSI300 hit an eight-month low before recouping losses. .SS
Late Tuesday, the PBOC unexpectedly announced it would cut the cash banks must hold as reserves in a move that frees up lending for small firms but falls short of a broad monetary easing. Chinese shares buckled after the United States banned American companies from selling components to Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS bounced 0.5 percent, though that followed four straight sessions of losses.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 climbed 1.2 percent, with investors waiting for any developments on trade as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
European shares are seen rising, with spread-betters expecting 0.2-0.3 percent gains in Britain's FTSE FFIc1 .FTSE , France's Cac FCEc1 .FCHI and Germany's Dax FDXc1 .GDAXI .
E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 ESc1 gained 0.1 percent after robust earnings from Netflix NFLX.O , Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) GS.N and healthcare companies fuelled optimism about what is expected to be the strongest earnings season in seven years.
Profits at the 48 S&P500 companies that have announced earnings so far have risen 28.7 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, said Mutsumi Kagawa, chief global strategist at Rakuten Securities in Tokyo.
The Dow .DJI ended Tuesday up 0.88 percent, while the S&P 500 .SPX rose 1.06 percent and the Nasdaq .IXIC 1.78 percent. .N
"The three main U.S. indexes turned positive on the year, which seems to suggest to me that markets are entering risk-on mode from risk-off," Kagawa said.
Yet there were signs of caution in the latest BofA Merrill Lynch survey of fund mangers which found investors squirreling more funds away into cash, while cutting their equity allocation to an 18-month low.
OPTIMISM TESTED
The outlook for the global economy also darkened with just a net 5 percent of fund managers expecting stronger growth in the next 12 months - the lowest since the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU in June 2016.
While the IMF left its global growth forecasts unchanged for 2018 and 2019 on Tuesday, it judged medium-term risks were to the downside - citing financial vulnerabilities, geopolitical strains and tariffs. global narrative has quickly shifted from synchronous global growth, upgraded growth and glimmers of inflation in early 2018 to a focus on tariffs and protectionist rhetoric," said Robert Rennie, head of financial markets strategy at Westpac.
"We ultimately believe that we will see a negotiated solution, but there is still a long way to go and further bouts of volatility and headline risk seem assured."
Worries about the longevity of the U.S. economic expansion were one reason the Treasury curve was at its flattest in a decade and why some interest-rate curves were starting to price in rate cuts for 2020. air of uncertainty was keeping currencies restrained.
The euro was stuck at $1.2370 EUR= , after topping out at $1.2413 overnight, while the dollar index was barely moved at 89.538 .DXY . USD/
The dollar did nudge modestly higher on the yen to 107.25 JPY= , helped by signs of progress in U.S. talks with North Korea.
U.S. Secretary of State nominee and CIA Director Mike Pompeo secretly visited North Korea and met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to discuss a planned summit with President Trump. commodity markets, gold was a fraction easier at $1,344.11 an ounce XAU= .
Oil prices firmed with Brent crude futures LCOc1 up 32 cents to $71.90 a barrel, while U.S. crude CLc1 rose 33 cents to $66.85 a barrel. O/R
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