Asian shares hovered below their 10-year peak on Friday while mainland Chinese shares dropped to three-month lows after big falls the previous day on concerns about fresh government steps to curb financial risks and an ongoing rout in the Chinese bond market Otherwise, markets lacked cues from Wall Street, which was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States on Thursday, and was set to hold a shortened trading session on Friday. MSCI 's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was almost flat, as Hong Kong shares bucked the softness in the mainland shares to gain 0.6 per cent.The MSCI index hovered still just 0.5 per cent below its 10-year peak hit earlier this week and is on course to post a weekly gain of 1.4 per cent.Japan's Nikkei fell 0.3 per cent after a market holiday on Thursday while US stock futures were little changed after shortened trading on Thursday. "Many markets have been hitting new highs so there should be some profit-taking and I wouldn't worry too much. Still, in the very near term, we could be in a phase where patience is needed," said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities.Although solid global economic growth and strong corporate earnings have underpinned shares in Asia and many other parts of the world, a tumble in mainland Chinese shares caught some investors' attention.The CSI300 index fell as much as 0.9 per cent to a three-month low in choppy trade after a 3.0 per cent fall - its biggest in almost a year-and-a-half - on Thursday, as a sell-off in domestic bonds that has been underway since last month gnawed away at investor sentiment.

Source: Economic Times November 24, 2017 02:26 UTC