Asian stocks were mixed on Tuesday, in thin trade and with little to guide them as most major markets were closed on Monday for Christmas holidays, while the dollar reclaimed its losses from Monday.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat, with Australia and New Zealand closed for a holiday in lieu of Christmas.
Japan's Nikkei rose 0.3 per cent, buoyed by a weaker yen.
China's CSI 300 index was little changed, while the Shanghai Composite slipped 0.2 per cent, despite positive data.
The mainland's industrial sector showed stronger profit growth in November, suggesting the economy was improving, but policymakers noted growth was too dependent on a rebound in the prices of oil products and iron and steel.
The Hang Seng index slid 0.3 per cent.
“It is the time of the year when markets trade with hushedtones,” Jingyi Pan, market strategist at IG, wrote in a note."The magnitude of moves could remain capped with thin markettrades expected to remain the case.”
On Friday, Wall Street closed slightly higher in thin trade.
The 10-year US Treasury yield extended gains by almost 1 per cent on Tuesday, more than recovering Monday's losses.
The decline came after data on Friday showed US consumer spending increased modestly in November as household income failed to rise for the first time in nine months. The data suggested the economy slowed in the fourth quarter after growing briskly in the prior period.
Still the slowdown in growth is likely to be temporary, with the labour market near full employment, house prices rising and the stock market rallying close to record highs. Consumer confidence, in addition, is at its highest level since July 2007.
European stocks were little changed on Friday, although banks rose after Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse settled investigations into US mortgage securities sales, while Italy's government approved a bailoutfor the nation's largest lender, Monte dei Paschi.
“Shares are overbought and due for a bit of profit-takingbut moves toward a resolution of bank woes are helping inEurope, global economic data is mostly good and the periodaround Christmas/New Year is normally positive for shares,"Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital inSydney, wrote in a note.
The bounce back in US yields boosted the dollar, which also recovered Monday's losses with a 0.3 per cent gain to 117.39 yen on Tuesday.
The Japanese currency retreated after data on Tuesday showed the nation's core consumer prices declined for the ninth straight month in November, and that household spending fell even as job availability hit a fresh 25-year high.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback againsta basket of six global peers, added 0.1 per cent to 103.13, half-a- per cent below the highest level since December 2002 hit a week ago.
The euro was 0.2 per cent lower at $1.0435 onTuesday.
In commodities, oil prices gained on Tuesday, on output cuts by both OPEC and non-OPEC producers that are set to start inless than a week.
US crude added 0.1 per cent to $53.09 a barrel.Global benchmark Brent was steady at $55.13.