Asian shares mixed, U.S. dollar hits low grounds

Asian share markets recorded a mixed session on Thursday, tracking Wall Street’s choppy performance after the United States saw weak employment figures. Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar placed near 2-1/2 year lows on investors’ vaccine-driven optimism.

Japan’s benchmark index Nikkei was flat, while South Korea’s KOSPI and Australia’s benchmark index hiked about 0.4%. Chinese shares started weakly as the blue-chip index plunged 0.2%. New Zealand shares also declined.

The mixed sessions had sent MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan up 0.4%, marking its third straight day of gains. Meanwhile, the dollar index had reached a 2-1/2 year low of 90.948 as investors withdrew from the U.S. dollar and resorted to its Australian and New Zealand counterparts.