Asia stocks slip, Japan rebounds in holiday-thinned trade

Reuters: Asian shares pared losses on Monday as a weaker yen helped Japan’s Nikkei snap a four-day losing streak, but trade was thin with many regional markets closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.1%, with Australian shares slipping a few points to end nearly flat.

But Japan’s Nikkei erased early steep losses as the dollar gained on the yen, and ended up 1.1%.

With Singapore, Hong Kong and mainland China all closed for the new year holiday, volume was thin. China, a focus of recent market concern, will be closed for the entire week for the holiday.

Data released over the weekend showed China’s foreign reserves fell for a third straight month in January, as the central bank dumped dollars to defend the yuan and prevent an increase in capital outflows.

In currency markets, the dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, edged up 0.1% to 97.127, well above a nadir of 96.259 plumbed last Thursday, its lowest since October.

The dollar rose about 0.5% to 117.42 yen, moving away from Friday’s 2-1/2 week low of 116.285. It slid 3.6% last week, its biggest weekly drop since July 2009.

The euro edged down about 0.2% to $1.1137, though it remained in sight of Friday’s three-month high of $ 1.1250 scaled immediately after the headline figure of the payrolls data led investors to reduce their bets on further Fed rate hikes.

The Australian dollar added 0.5% to $0.7094 after plunging nearly 2% against its US counterpart on Friday.