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Hong Kong - Asian stock markets were mixed on Thursday as investors took a breather after the previous day's rally, taking their lead from a retreat on Wall Street.
The euro continued to face pressure from the dollar and the yen ahead of next week's European Central Bank board meeting that many expect will see an easing of monetary policy.
Tokyo was flat at the end of the morning session after enjoying a five-session winning streak and Sydney dipped 0.15%, while Hong Kong added 0.27% and Shanghai gained 0.25%. Seoul was flat.
Jakarta was closed for a public holiday.
With key US economic data due to be released later in the day, including the second estimate of first-quarter gross domestic product, dealers were keeping to the sidelines after enjoying a healthy pick-up on Wednesday.
On Wall Street the three main indexes ended lower ahead of the indicators. The Dow dipped 0.25%, the S&P 500 eased 0.11%, snapping a two-day streak of record closes, and the Nasdaq fell 0.28%.
Investors are also waiting for the release Monday of HSBC's closely watched purchasing managers index (PMI) of manufacturing activity from China, the United States and Europe, hoping for signs of further improvement.
China is also due to unveil its own official PMI on Sunday.
On foreign exchange markets the euro fell to ¥138.29 from ¥138.40 late in New York and ¥138.96 in Tokyo earlier Wednesday, with expectations high that the ECB will announce new measures to combat tepid price rises.
The bank's chief Mario Draghi this month hinted at possible new policy moves as it struggles to prevent deflation in the eurozone.
The single European single currency also fetched of $1.3595, against $1.3590 in US trade - which was a 15-week low - while the dollar eased to ¥101.71 from ¥101.84.
In oil trade the US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in July, climbed 23 cents to $102.95 a barrel, while Brent North Sea crude for July gained 10 cents to $109.91.
Gold fetched $1 256.33 an ounce at 04:15 compared with $1 265.08 late on Wednesday.
