Investing.com - Asian shares fell on Thursday as the market digested currency remarks from the US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin overnight and worried about a potential global tarde war.
Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.93% as most sectors — including automakers, technology, manufacturing and financials — traded in negative territory. Major exporters traded lower following the dollar's overnight fall against the yen.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.12%. Gold producers were up 2.62%t after the metal's prices rose to their highest levels in one and a half years on the softer dollar.
In Greater China, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.14% and the Hang Seng index eased 0.31%.
Mnuchin will have the chance Thursday to offer any clarification on a change from a long-standing strong dollar policy as part of a panel at 11 a.m. CET at Davos that includes IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde.
Also ahead is an ECB meeting where many expect the central bank to keep rates unchanged but the focus will likely be on ECB president Mario Draghi press conference and a timeframe for a return to normalization in policy.
Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 41.31 points, or 0.16%, to 26,252.12, the S&P 500 (SPX) lost 1.6 points, or 0.06%, to 2,837.54 and the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) dropped 45.23 points, or 0.61%, to 7,415.06.