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Deputies drafting a final statement to be released after the Group of 20 summit concludes on Friday remained far apart on pivotal issues, including currency exchange rates, G20 spokesman Kim Yoon Kyung said on Wednesday.

"We had to open the door because the debate was so animated and the room was getting hot," he said.

G20 leaders had hoped this week's gathering, the fifth since the financial crisis exploded in 2008, would mark the beginning of a new era of global cooperation. Hosts South Korea printed banners proclaiming a slogan of "Shared Growth Beyond Crisis."

But the unity forged in crisis has given way to sometimes-competing national policies that reflect a multi-speed recovery from the recession, prompting critics to question the effectiveness of the G20 grouping itself.

The U.S. Federal Reserve's decision last week to spend another $600 billion on government bond purchases has drawn reproaches from four continents and intensified the G20 debate over how best to bolster the global economic recovery and avoid another financial crisis.

Critics charge that the Fed ignored global repercussions -- namely a weaker dollar and a flood of cheap cash that could find its way into emerging markets -- and violated the cooperative spirit the G20 has worked hard to sustain.

The sharp criticism has made it harder for Washington to press China to allow its yuan currency to rise more rapidly, a central issue in the global rebalancing effort.

Underlining that, a Chinese official who has been helping draft the G20 communique said the leaders should not discuss the yuan or any other currency specifically.

However, spot yuan rose to a high of 6.6353 against the dollar on Wednesday, the highest level since the currency's landmark revaluation in July 2005, after the People's Bank of China fixed a record yuan mid-point.

Beijing typically loosens its tight grip on the yuan as a goodwill gesture ahead of political events that apply pressure on China for more yuan appreciation.

Kim, the G20 spokesman, said 40 to 50 deputies were crammed into a small room for a 14-hour session on Tuesday, and voices were raised when they discussed a framework for balanced growth that G20 leaders hope will be a cornerstone of the summit.

Officials left empty brackets in several key sections of what will become the final communique, he said, an acknowledgement they had yet to agree on the language. They reconvened on Wednesday and will continue into Thursday if necessary.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged greater G20 cooperation at a "critical moment" for the global economy. "I am concerned by the divergence of opinions on these issues," Ban told a news conference in Seoul. "This is a time for unity."

While the deputies bickered, some leaders sought a calmer tone. British Prime Minister David Cameron said at a Beijing financial conference that the best future for the world economy was to keep trade barriers down.

The dollar's strength boosted exporters in Japan, helping to push the Nikkei average up to a four-month high, while gold and silver inched up again after pulling back from record highs reached on Tuesday.

The dollar gained as U.S. Treasury bond yields rose, with the impact of the currency move felt across asset classes. The dollar index .DXY rose as high as 77.869, a level it last touched in late October.

"We've failed to notice that there is an improved tone to U.S. data and that is manifesting itself in a bounce in the U.S. dollar and it is manifesting itself in a bounce in U.S. Treasury yields," said Robert Rennie, chief currency strategist at Westpac Bank in Sydney. "That is a process that can go a bit further. It's quite a potent force in the short term," he said.

Wall Street offered a bearish cue for Asia as stocks fell for a second day with selling picking up into the close. The MSCI index of Asian shares outside of Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.7 percent.

However, the dollar boosted Japan's Nikkei average .N225 as exporters were among the chief beneficiaries of the currency's rise. Canon Inc (7751.T) rose 2.3 percent and Advantest (6857.T) climbed 2.6 percent

The Nikkei firmed 1.2 percent to 9,807.6 after trading earlier as high as 9,842, its highest level since June.

Japanese banks also pushed the Nikkei higher on hopes they would not be the main focus of global regulators because of their domestic focus. Mizuho Financial Group (8411.T) soared 5.9 percent.

Japan's stock market has struggled to break decisively through 9,800, but traders said a clear move beyond resistance at 9,807 may signal the start of a more sustained rally.

"The July peak had formed resistance for the Nikkei, and if it manages to end the day above the level, more gains will clearly be in order," said Koichi Nosaka, a market analyst at Securities Japan, Inc.

The euro fell around 1 percent to $1.3775, with concerns about the cost of protection against Irish and Portuguese government debt continuing to weigh on sentiment.

Currency tensions are high on the agenda at this week's G20 summit of advanced and developing economies.

A meeting in Seoul on Tuesday on key issues, including exchange rates, ended inconclusively. Another session is scheduled for Wednesday.

The firmer dollar weighed on dollar-denominated commodities prices.

Gold traded around $1,400 per ounce in Asia, a slight uptick after losing $30 from the record high of $1,424.10 on Tuesday.

JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) faces two possible class action lawsuits related to foreclosures, the No. 2 U.S. bank said in a regulatory filing.

The suits allege "common law fraud and misrepresentation, as well as violations of state consumer fraud statutes," JPMorgan said in the Securities and Exchange Commission filing, without disclosing who filed them.

Banks, under investigation by state and federal officials for sloppy or even fraudulent foreclosure paperwork, face suits from both borrowers and investors in mortgage-backed securities.

Ally Financial Inc said it has been sued by hedge fund Cambridge Place Investment Management, which has ramped up a legal scrap with Wall Street to recoup money lost on subprime mortgages.

PNC Financial Services Group (PNC.N) said it had been sued by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, alleging misrepresentations and omissions in connection with the sale of mortgage-backed securities.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N), meanwhile, is reviewing the practices of its Litton Loan Servicing unit and has temporarily suspended evictions and foreclosures in several states, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday.

Bank of America (BAC.N), JPMorgan and Ally's GMAC Mortgage voluntarily imposed brief moratoriums on foreclosures to review their practices but have begun to resume evictions of delinquent borrowers.

U.S. attorneys general for all 50 states are jointly investigating whether banks failed to review documents properly or submitted false information to evict delinquent borrowers.

JPMorgan said in Tuesday's quarterly SEC filing, that it believes the information it provided about the foreclosures was "materially accurate."

Since September, at least two lawsuits seeking class action status have named JPMorgan in federal court for the Northern District of Illinois: one by a Chicago homeowner claiming Wall Street banks were acting together to illegally foreclose on homes, and another by Kentucky homeowners seeking class action status for having home equity lines cut.

It was unclear whether either of these were referred to in the SEC filing. JPMorgan did not respond to requests for information on the lawsuits.

The KBW index of bank stocks was down 1.3 percent in afternoon trading. JPMorgan shares slipped 0.9 percent, PNC shares were off 1.9 percent and Goldman Sachs fell 0.8 percent.

MORTGAGE-BACKED SUITS

JPMorgan also acknowledged it faced suits related to mortgage-backed securities brought by Cambridge Place and brokerage Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW.N)

U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) will grow at a 2.0 percent annualized rate in the current quarter, the same pace as the third quarter and unchanged from the consensus last month, according to the median forecast from almost 70 economists.

Growth is expected to accelerate to an annualized 2.2 percent in the first quarter of next year, and 2.5 percent in the second quarter of 2011, also unchanged from the last poll.

"We expect that the Fed's new large-scale asset purchase program -- dubbed QE2 -- will likely boost growth only modestly, perhaps by 0.2 percent to 0.3 percent in 2011," said Richard Berner, chief U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley.

Berner added that QE2 ought to help limit downside risks to both growth and inflation. The Fed said last week it could make further purchases beyond the middle of next year if it deems that necessary.

But unlike the majority of Wall Street dealers who expect the Fed to go beyond the $600 billion of additional quantitative easing promised over the next eight months, the consensus of a broader range of economists across the U.S. and Europe thought the Fed would stop there.

"For now we view the QE2 news as a 'one and done'," said George Goncalves, head of U.S. interest rate strategy at Nomura Securities International.

A Reuters poll conducted last week found most of the 18 U.S. primary bond dealers -- large financial institutions which do business directly with the Fed and which benefit directly from bond purchases -- do expect the Fed to expand the program.

Goldman Sachs was at the high end of expectations, calling for $2 trillion of purchases under QE2 -- more than three times what the Fed has said it will do.

All but 3 of 83 economists in the latest poll expected the Fed to maintain the fed funds rate at 0-0.25 percent until the middle of next year and medians show no hike until early 2012.

Inflation and core inflation consensus forecasts remained muted, and broadly unchanged. Core CPI is seen at 1.0 percent this year and 1.1 percent in 2011.

The latest Reuters poll was conducted after the U.S. government said employers added far more jobs in November than economists had expected.

That raised some hopes the labor market may be on the mend after shedding millions of jobs in the worst recession in over 70 years.

In the October poll, only 11 of 69 economists correctly predicted the 2.0 percent growth rate for the third quarter of this year. Most were too pessimistic.

(Polling by the Bangalore Polling Unit; additional analysis by Namrata Anchan and Ruby Cherian; editing by Ross Finley and Stephen Nisbet)

* U.S. crude oil futures hit a fresh two-year top after bullish comments from an industry group, while copper hit its highest since July 2008, helped by falling inventories coupled with supply concerns.

* The U.S. Federal Reserve's attempt to spur the economy by buying $600 billion in Treasury debt has helped commodity prices and led stocks to rally over the last two months. Equities have also developed a close inverse relationship with the dollar.

* Renewed concerns about euro zone economies weighed on the euro, which hit its lowest in more than a week versus the dollar, before recovering to sit flat.

* S&P 500 futures rose 3.2 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 28 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 9 points.

* Investors were cautious ahead of this week's G20 summit. China warned the U.S. Fed's latest quantitative easing could inflate asset bubbles elsewhere, keeping pressure on Washington ahead of the meeting.

* Top Fed officials offered differing assessments of the central bank's bond-buying program, unveiled last week, with one warning that the Fed's bond buying might need to be curbed to head off inflation.

* Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group, has been approached by a group of private equity investors to gauge his interest in taking part in a bid to buy Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O), a source said.

* Economic data on tap for Tuesday includes wholesale inventories for September and IBD consumer confidence.

*In corporate news, Dean Foods Co (DF.N), Marsh & McLennan Cos Inc (MMC.N) and Rockwell Automation Inc (ROK.N) are expected to report quarterly results. <RESF/US>

* Japan's Nikkei average .N225 ended down 0.4 percent Tuesday as investors pocketed profits after the average had jumped more than 6 percent over the previous four sessions, while European shares rose 0.7 percent in morning trade, led by strong gains in the resource-related sector.

* Wall Street retreated from a two-year high on Monday, weighed down by financial stocks and a stronger dollar.

(Reporting by Edward Krudy; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)