* Euro may head to $1.32 in near term after Portugal bond sales
* Financial stocks shine; HSBC stock outperforms a second day
* Inflation haunts as oil, grain prices climb
HONG KONG, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The euro dipped on Thursday but could head higher if Spain and Italy, like Portugal, also find decent demand for their debt, while U.S. oil prices crept up to $92 a barrel, potentially straining consumers who are already watching food prices climb.
Promises from China and Japan to support Europe through its fiscal crisis have also helped to keep the euro around $1.31 and the closeout of small bets against the euro could push it up above $1.32 in the near term, particularly as global equity markets hit two-year highs.
The euro zone's financing troubles have generally dragged on investors' appetite for risk taking, though signs that highly indebted European countries are able to tap capital markets albeit at high borrowing costs, may put risk seeking back in play.
Japan's Nikkei share average rose 0.7 percent to an eight-month high, with stocks of large exporters among the biggest boosts to the index.
"The strong bond auction in Portugal has calmed the markets and with no major negative factors in sight, foreign funds continue buying lagging banking and property shares," said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management, in Tokyo.
Japanese bank stocks outperformed for a second day as foreign investors kept loading up on previously underweighted financials. Shares of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group , Japan's biggest bank by assets, gained 1.3 percent.
HSBC Holdings was in focus on Thursday after its London-listed shares climbed 3.8 percent overnight, the biggest single-day gain since August 2010.
The Hong Kong-listed shares of the company were up 1.2 percent and have risen 8.5 percent so far in January on heavy trading volumes, as investors bet the bank would catch up with the share price gains of rival Standard Chartered Plc .
The MSCI index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.6 percent , within striking distance of a 2-1/2-year high that has been tested twice in the past two months.
The materials and financial sectors led gains in the MSCI index.
The MSCI all-country world index edged up to the highest since Sept. 2, 2008 , having risen 20 percent since September 2010, when investors began to factor in the impact of further monetary easing by the Federal Reserve.
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