Oil retreats from record while Asian shares gain

By Rafael Nam

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Oil prices retreated on Tuesday as some investors saw a recent rally to record highs as excessive, while Asian shares gained as banks were bolstered by further signals the worst of the credit crisis may now be over.

Trading was subdued for the most part, with the dollar steadying against the yen ahead of April U.S. retail sales data due out later in the day, as well as a speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

The earthquake on Monday that killed nearly 10,000 people in southwest China hit shares in Shanghai .SSEC, though trading was suspended in companies directly affected. Still, it failed to have an impact elsewhere in the region amid expectations the economic fallout will be limited.

Inflationary pressures from rising food and energy costs, and further fallout from the global credit crisis, have been among the most pressing concerns to investors in Asia this year, and despite a more positive tone, little appeared to change on Tuesday.

Analysts attributed the fall in crude futures mainly to booking profits after prices set a string of records last week, hitting an all-time peak of $126.40 on Monday, and bringing its gains so far this month to around 15 percent.

The surge has been led by concerns over supply disruptions in the North Sea and Nigeria.

"The pitch of the rise (of oil prices) has been very rapid since the start of the month so it's about time that we saw some profit-taking," said Tatsuo Kageyama, an analyst at Kanetsu Asset Management in Tokyo.

Crude was down 75 cents at $123.48 a barrel at 3:49 a.m. BST.