ANTIQUES SHOPS

It was the third straight monthly decline on a year-on-year basis since the government imposed strict curbs on property speculation more than two years ago, with the price decline deepening from a fall of 1.2 percent in April.

In month-on-month terms, home prices fell 0.1 percent, the eighth straight decline since the Reuters weighted index was launched in January 2011.

The National Bureau of Statistics said new home prices fell 1.2 percent in Beijing in May from a year earlier and were down 1.6 percent in Shanghai.

Month-on-month, they remained unchanged in Beijing and were down 0.1 percent in Shanghai.

Many Chinese buyers worry about a rebound in property prices as the government loosens monetary policy to spur a slowing economy, although Beijing has retained its administrative curbs on the real estate market, local media reported on Monday.

"It seems home prices and tightening policies have reached their bottom so quite a few home buyers are starting to panic again," the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of China's ruling Communist Party, said in an analytical report. This is reminiscent of 2009 when prices doubled in several months after Beijing rolled out a 4 trillion yuan ($628.43 billion) stimulus package, the newspaper said.

China has relaxed monetary and fiscal policies after a more than two-year long tightening campaign to cool the country's red-hot property market as the euro zone debt crisis hit global financial markets and braked domestic growth.

The central bank cut interest rates on June 7, the first such move in more than three years, after it lowered banks' reserve requirement ratio three times since November.

"Although these measures are not aimed at salvaging the property market, they are a shot in the arm for the cash-strapped real estate market," the People's Daily added.

Meanwhile, many Chinese cities have relaxed policies, although the central government has maintained its curbs against speculators.

These measures have changed market sentiment and property sales have shown signs of a recovery since March.

The semi-official China Securities Journal reported on Monday that transactions of new and existing homes combined rose 46.5 percent in Beijing in the first half of June as compared with the same period last year, citing data from the local housing bureau website.

The newspaper also cited local consultancy Home Link as saying that 21 of the 76 new property projects that hit the market so far this year saw a rise in transaction prices.

However, high inventories will cap any quick rebound in home prices in the near term, it cited Home Link analyst Chen Xue as saying.

Vanke 000002.SZ, China's largest developer by sales, said earlier this month it would take about 11 months to sell down unsold stocks in key cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

The company's sales rose 19 percent in May from the previous month to 10.72 billion yuan ($1.68 billion), reversing a decline in April.

($1 = 6.3651 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Langi Chiang and Kevin Yao; Editing by Jacqueline Wong & Kim Coghill)

* 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)