SYDNEY, NSW, Australia- Stocks in Asia were mostly higher on Thursday, although the Japanese market lagged and mainland China was flat.
The Australian All Ordinaries gained 37.20 points or 0.53 percent to 7,042. 30.
In New Zealand, the S&P NZX 50 rose 54.04 points or 0.49 percent to 11,100. 52.
The NIkkei 225 in Tokyo fell 72.24 points or 0.26 percent to 27,359. 60.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng was trading ahead of 330 points at the time of writing. The Shanghai Composite had a credit of just one point in late trading.
The U.S. dollar was weak after being pounded overnight. Around the Sydney close Thursday, the euro was at 1.0077. The British pound was steady at 1.1619. The Japanese yen was 145.27. The Swiss franc was in demand at 0.9856.
The Canadian dollar was well-bid at 1.3547. The Australian dollar was sharply higher at 0.6507. The New Zealand dollar was a strong performer, rising to 0.5861.
The Nasdaq Composite dropped 228.12 points or 2.04 percent to 10,870 over the night on Wall Street. 99.
The Dow Jones was flat, up 2.37 points or 0.01 percent to 31,839. 11.
The Standard and Poor's 500 dropped by 28.52 points or 0.74 percent to 3,890. 59.