* Asian shares ex-Japan up slightly but sentiment weak
* European markets open touch firmer, data awaited
* Dollar slips towards 85 yen, Nikkei down 0.4 pct (Repeats to more subscribers)
By Sanjeev Miglani
SINGAPORE, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Japanese shares closed at their lowest level in eight months on Tuesday and the dollar hovered near a 15-year year low against the yen on concerns of a global slowdown ahead of data from the United States and Europe.
Other Asian markets were slightly firmer, as U.S. stock futures edged up, although analysts said there was little reason for them to rise much higher given the weak sentiment.
Major European stocks <.FTEU3> opened 0.3 percent higher,
tracking small gains in broader Asia. The S&P futures index
U.S. housing starts and producer prices for July will be released later on Tuesday, while Germany releases investor sentiment data, which is expected to fall slightly in August, having dropped to its lowest since April 2009 in July.
"We are worried that some people are saying there is a 25 percent chance of a double-dip recession, and some people are talking about deflation," said Peter McGuire, managing director at CWA Global Markets in Sydney.
The MSCI share index for Asia excluding Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> rose 0.6 percent following Wall Street's relatively flat finish. Last week the index lost nearly 2.9 percent on growing concerns about the global recovery, its worst performance in six weeks.
U.S. Treasury debt prices inched down, though the benchmark yield stayed near a 17-month low. [US/]
The Fed will make the first of its purchases of Treasuries on Tuesday in a program announced last week that will use funding from maturing mortgage assets to buy U.S. government debt to shore up economic recovery.
Japan's Nikkei <.N225> stock average fell 0.4 percent to its lowest close in more than eight months, reflecting growing investor worries about weak economic growth.
The index which earlier fell within sight of a 13-month low of 9,065.94 hit last week, pared losses after a government source told Reuters that Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Bank of Japan governor Masaaki Shirakawa will meet next week, sending the dollar/yen slightly higher.
"There's a lot of worry about what could happen if the Nikkei falls below 9,000. It's served as support for quite some time but could well break if the yen continues to gain strength," said Toshiyuki Kanayama, market analyst at Monex Inc.
The dollar slid as low as 85.11 yen
Traders said it is only matter of time before the greenback drops below 85.00 yen and threatens to pass last week's milestone due to the general mood of risk aversion.
Markets are also awaiting debt auctions by Spain and Ireland later in the day as worries return about weaker peripheral euro zone economies. [ID:nLDE67F0BJ]
Crude oil declined for a sixth day as concern grew that the global economic recovery was withering, following disappointing data from the United States and Japan, the world's largest and third-largest oil consumers.
U.S. home builders' optimism hit a near 1-½ year low in August and a regional manufacturing gauge grew more slowly than expected, the data showed on Monday, after Japan reported growth slowing to a crawl in the second quarter. [ID:nTOE67901S]
Gold erased some of its early gains but held near its strongest level in more than a month struck the previous day after the fall in the dollar and the Nikkei. (Additional reporting by Aiko Hayashi and Elaine Lies in Tokyo; Editing by Kazunori Takada)