MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat in early trade, while Japan's Nikkei stock average added 0.2 percent early Monday. - Reuter file pic
TOKYO: Asian shares got off to a cautious start on Monday, while a plunge in sterling after a poll showed rising support for Scottish independence helped bolster the dollar.
Sterling plummeted 0.8 percent to $1.6207 after sliding as low as $1.6165 in early trade, the lowest since last November and the biggest daily drop in eight months, after a poll showed the "yes" to Scottish independence campaign on 51 percent against 49 percent for the "no" camp.
Data on Friday showed U.S. nonfarm payrolls grew by only 142,000 last month, far below the 225,000 forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll.
The downbeat jobs report suggested the Federal Reserve will hold off on hiking interest rates anytime soon, and helped the S&P 500 hit a fresh closing high.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat in early trade, while Japan's Nikkei stock average added 0.2 percent.
Data released before Tokyo opened showed Japan's economy shrank an annualized 7.1 percent in April-June from the previous quarter, revised down from a preliminary 6.8 percent contraction due to weaker-than-expected capital spending.
The dollar edged up to 105.18 yen, though it remained shy of a nearly six-year high of 105.71 touched on Friday.
The euro steadied at $1.2953, holding above a 14-month low of $1.2920 hit last week in the wake of the European Central Bank's easing steps on Thursday.
Net short positions in the euro ballooned in the latest week ended Sept. 2, rising to their largest in more than two years, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday.
"The less extreme positioning in sterling and the looming Scottish referendum may mean that sterling lags behind the euro during the days ahead," Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York, said in a note to clients.
Later in the Asian session, investors await Chinese trade data for August, and will be scanning the report for any signs of weakness after a spate of recent data raised concerns about the impact of a cooling property sector.
On the commodities front, spot gold edged lower to$1,266.79 an ounce but remained well above a three-month low of $1,256.90 hit on Friday before the U.S. jobs data.- Reuters
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