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Asian shares mixed, dollar rallies

Hong Kong - Asian markets were mixed on Thursday, with many indexes reversing early gains as initial cheer from a Wall Street rally was replaced by concerns US interest rates could rise sooner than expected.

Another batch of strong data out of Washington also lit a fire under the dollar, which resumed its surge towards ¥110 while the euro struggled after a disappointing survey of business confidence in Germany.

Tokyo jumped 206.69 points, at a new seven-year high of 16 374.14 as the yen tumbled, while Sydney added 6.44 points, to close at 5 382.2, and Shanghai ended slightly higher, edging up 1.53 points to 2 345.10.

However, Seoul ended marginally lower, dipping 1.53 points to 2,034.11 and Hong Kong shed 0.64 percent, or 153.48 points, to 23,768.13.

Markets got off to a flier after a surge on Wall Street as the US Commerce Department said sales of new single-family houses rose 18% in August to an annual rate of 504 000, their fastest pace since May 2008.

The Dow jumped 0.90%, the S&P 500 rose 0.78% and the Nasdaq rallied 1.03%.

However, the morning euphoria wore off for some investors as they bet the latest results will provide the US Federal Reserve more reason to hike interest rates before its expected mid-2015 estimate.

The US central bank has kept a wait-and-see approach to monetary policy as the economy gathers momentum but with rates likely to rise next year emerging markets are worried investors will withdraw their cash to seek better returns at home.

In foreign exchange trade the dollar also jumped Wednesday in New York to ¥109.04 from ¥108.57 earlier in the day in Asia.

And on Thursday in Tokyo it rose further to ¥109.30.

Euro tumbles further

Daisuke Uno, strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, told Dow Jones Newswires: "It's probably fair to say that US employment data (on October 3) hold the key to more dollar strength, since a US economic rebound is the biggest fundamental reason to buy dollars."

The dollar also made more inroads against the euro after Germany's Ifo survey of business confidence hit a 17-month low in September.

The euro bought $1.2723 Thursday, down from $1.2781 in US trade, where it fell through the 1.28 mark for the first time since July 2013. The common currency also bought ¥138.00, compared with ¥139.37 on Wednesday.

On oil markets, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for November delivery fell eight cents to $92.72 while Brent crude for November eased 10c to $96.85 in afternoon trade.

Gold was at $1 210.85 an ounce against $1 208.40 an ounce late on Wednesday.

In other markets:

- Taipei fell 86.90 points to 9 011.59.

Smartphone maker HTC shed 2.25% to Tw$130.5 while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing dipped 0.81% to Tw$122.0.

- Wellington rose 0.37% to 5 277.86.

Spark was up 0.67% at NZ$2.99 and Warehouse Group added 0.32% to NZ$3.10.

- Manila fell 0.83% to 7 294.21.

Ayala Land fell 2.02% to 33.95 pesos and Alliance Global Group rose 1.36% to 26.15 pesos.

- Bangkok closed flat, edging up 0.01% to 1 591.99.

Bangkok Bank lost 2.34% to 209.00 baht, while Robinson Department Store gained 3.79% to 54.75 baht

- Jakarta ended up 0.53% at 5 201.38.

State miner Aneka Tambang rose 0.89% to 1 135 rupiah, while lender Bank Negara Indonesia lost 1.28% to 5 775 rupiah.

- Singapore closed down 0.06% to 3 290.99.

Singapore Telecommunications eased 0.53% to Sg$3.78 while United Overseas Bank fell 0.22% to Sg$22.68.

- Malaysia's key index closed nearly unchanged, with a 3.03 point gain to end the day at 1 843.11 points.

Diversified conglomerate Berjaya gained 3.0% to end at 0.515 ringgit and infrastructure firm YTL was up 1.18% at 1.71 ringgit.

- Mumbai closed down 1.03% at 26 468.36.

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