ANTIQUES SHOPS

But his victory claim was swiftly challenged by his rival, while shortly before the final result the generals who have run the country since the overthrow of Mubarak issued new rules that made clear real power remains with the army.

"Mohamed Morsy is the first popularly elected civilian president of Egypt," the official website of Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party announced.

But an aide to Shafik, an ex-military man like Mubarak, contested that and said the group was "hijacking the election."

"Our counting of the votes has so far showed that we are ahead with 52 percent of the vote but we refuse to break the law and issue any numbers now," said Mahmoud Baraka, the media of Shafik's campaign.

Egypt's state television reported both claims. The official election committee has yet to make any announcement.

Morsy in his first comments since the victory announcement promised at a news conference to be president for all Egyptians and said he would not "seek revenge or settle scores."

"Thanks be to God who has guided Egypt's people to the path of freedom and democracy, uniting the Egyptians to a better future," Morsy said.

Hundreds of flag-waving youth supporters of the Brotherhood gathered in Tahrir Square, where the anti-Mubarak revolution erupted 16 months ago. Outside the Brotherhood's Party headquarters, others danced and chanted: "Morsy Morsy ... The president." They also shouted "Down down with military rule."

"This is a historic vote in which good triumphs over evil. I voted Morsy and my dream has come true", said Ahmed Saad.

LIMITED POWERS

A decree from the ruling military council, published as the count got under way on Sunday, spelled out only limited powers for the new head of state and reclaimed for itself the lawmaking prerogatives held by the Islamist-led parliament which the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) dissolved last week.

Liberal and Islamist opponents denounced a "military coup".

The council's "constitutional declaration", issued under powers it took for itself after pushing aside Mubarak to appease street protests 16 months ago, was a blow to democracy, said many who aired their grievances on social media, a favored weapon in the Arab Spring that ended Mubarak's 30-year rule.

"Grave setback for democracy and revolution," tweeted former U.N. diplomat and Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei.

"SCAF retains legislative power, strips president of any authority over army and solidifies its control," he said.

"The 'unconstitutional declaration' continues an outright military coup," tweeted Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh, a moderate Islamist knocked out in the first round of the presidential election last month. "We have a duty to confront it."

A Facebook page whose young activists helped launch the uprising mocked the army's order, noting Egypt would have a head of state with no control over his own armed forces: "It means the president is elected but has no power," one comment read.

DEADLINE

The order from Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the chairman to the Supreme Council, indicated that the army, which also controls swathes of Egypt's economy, has no intention of handing substantial power now to its old adversary the Brotherhood.

"SCAF will carry legislative responsibilities ... until a new parliament is elected," the council's order said.

It raised a question of how, even if a civilian head of state is sworn in this week, Tantawi can claim to have met his own deadline of July 1 for relinquishing control - a deadline the armed forces' major patron and paymaster the United States had stressed in recent days it was expecting him to respect.

Washington and Egypt's European allies, also major providers of aid to the most populous Arab state, had voiced concern when Tantawi, backed by a judicial ruling from a court appointed under Mubarak, dissolved the parliament elected in January in which the Brotherhood and hardline Islamists had a big majority.

The Brotherhood has contested the army's power to dissolve parliament and warned of "dangerous days".

However, the Western powers - and many of Egypt's 82 million people - are also uneasy about the rise of Islamists in Cairo, as in other new democracies of the Arab Spring, notably Tunisia and Libya, and so are unlikely to sanction the generals for now.

The failure of the new parliament to agree a consensus body to draft a constitution - liberals accuse the Islamists of packing the panel with religious zealots - has left Egyptians picking their way from revolution to democracy through a legal maze while the generals control the map and change it at will.

Under the latest order, writing of the new constitution may pass to a body appointed by the SCAF - if a court rules against the contested panel nominated by the now defunct legislature.

Any new constitution would need approval in a referendum, with a new parliamentary election following. By a timetable contained in the decree, it would take another five months or so to complete the planned "transition to democracy".

However, the experience of the past year has left many Egyptians doubting that the military, and what they call the "deep state" stretching across big business, Mubarak-era judges, security officials and the army, will ever hand over control.

"SCAF isn't going to transfer any real power," Marc Lynch, a Middle East expert at George Washington University said on Twitter of the constitutional order. "Back to the beginning."

Many voters were dismayed by an unpalatable choice between a man seen as an heir to Mubarak and the nominee of a religious party committed to reversing liberal social traditions.

Some cast a ballot against both men in protest.

(Additional reporting by Dina Zayed, Tom Pfeiffer, Edmund Blair, Alastair Macdonald and Samia Nakhoul in Cairo and Abdel Rahman Youssef in Alexandria; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Samia Nakhoul)

* MSCI Asia ex-Japan up 1.7 pct, Nikkei up 1.8 pct

* U.S. crude up 1 pct to $84.90 a barrel

* Gold down 0.3 pct, Treasury 10-yr yields rise to 1.65 pct

By Alex Richardson

SINGAPORE, June 18 (Reuters) - The euro jumped to a one-month high and Asian shares rose nearly 2 percent on Monday after Greece's election delivered a slim parliamentary majority to pro-bailout parties, a result seen as crucial to European leaders' efforts to hold the euro together.

U.S. stock index futures and riskier commodities such as crude oil and copper also rose, while gold fell after a rally last week, when investors had looked to bullion as a safe haven amid fears the election could trigger financial turmoil.

But analysts cautioned there were still plenty of hurdles ahead and the initial positive market reaction could prove to be short-lived.

"The question is whether there will be a sustained rebound as there's still so many things to sort out - the euro zone's fiscal problems and Spanish banks," said Masayuki Doshida, senior market analyst at Rakuten Securities in Tokyo.

Parties in Greece that broadly support the 130 billion euro EU/IMF bailout will begin forging a government on Monday. The parties, New Democracy and PASOK, would have a parliamentary majority.

Financial markets had feared a victory for SYRIZA, the radical leftists opposed to the austerity package of job, wage and pension cuts that are a condition of the bailout, without which Greece would be bankrupt.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1.7 percent and Tokyo's Nikkei share average jumped 1.8 percent. U.S. S&P 500 futures were trading around 0.4 percent higher.

"It's a temporary rally but we're seeing broad gains because the global situation has changed now that the prospect of a 'Drachmageddon' has disappeared," said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, general manager of investment and research at SMBC Friend Securities in Tokyo.

The euro was up around 0.4 percent at about $1.2685, having climbed as far as $1.2748, its highest level in a month. The U.S. dollar index eased 0.2 percent.

U.S. crude rose 1 percent to around $84.90 a barrel, Brent crude gained nearly $1 to above $98.50 and copper was 0.6 percent higher around $7,556 a tonne.

Safe-haven assets retreated, with gold down 0.3 percent around $1,623 an ounce and benchmark U.S. Treasury 10-year yields rising to around 1.65 percent from about 1.58 percent in last U.S. trade on Friday.

CRISIS NOT OVER

As well as cheering investors, the Greek election result should also come as a relief for world leaders who are due to kick off a G20 meeting in Mexico on Monday.

A statement from the Group of Seven major industrialised nations said it was in "all our interests" for Greece to remain in the euro zone while respecting its international bailout commitments.

But amid the relief, investors' focus was already returning to the many unresolved elements of Europe's deep-seated debt crisis, not to mention concerns over a faltering U.S. recovery and China's transition to a lower growth trajectory.

"We are back to guessing whether or not we will see a growth pact and eurobonds," said Westpac Bank foreign exchange strategists Robert Rennie and Sean Callow in a note. "We are back to guessing when China will come up with a fiscal package to help stabilise a sharply slowing Chinese economy."

Greece's economy remains in deep crisis after five years of recession, Spain has been pushed into seeking 100 billion euros from Europe to rescue its banks and Italy's poor growth prospects and high debt have put it in the bond markets' sights.

After reaching a euro-era high above 7 percent on Thursday, Spain's 10-year bond yield eased 6 basis points from its closing level to 6.90 percent on Friday, while Italian yields fell 15 bps to 6.01 percent.

"Short-covering is well and good but will long-term investors decide that the crisis is over and move back into peripheral countries' debt, or equities? We fear that is highly unlikely," said Sebastian Galy, strategist at Societe Generale in New York.

Galy said more political and structural change was needed to shore up the euro zone's financial system, and a growth plan was urgently required as well.

"The bottom line is that Europe still needs to agree on something that smells and feels a lot more like joint funding than anything that has been suggested so far." (Additional reporting by Ian Chua in Sydney and Sophie Knight in Tokyo; Editing by Neil Fullick)