Asia Pacific shares trade mixed as Dow winning streak ends

The Nikkei 225 in Japan declined fractionally in early trade, with shares of conglomerate and index heavyweight Softbank Group plunging more than 2.5%.The Topix index also fell 0.18%.

Over in South Korea, the Kospi traded higher by 0.22%, with shares of LG Chem gaining 0.29%.

In Australia, the ASX 200 rose 0.29% as majority of the sectors saw gains.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow ended the trading day stateside down 14.17 points at 26,048.51, snapping a six-day winning streak. The S&P 500 declined less than 0.1% to close at 2,885.72 while the Nasdaq Composite finished just below breakeven at 7,822.57.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump said in a tweet that the dollar is at a “big disadvantage ” against other major currencies such as the euro.

“The Euro and other currencies are devalued against the dollar, putting the U.S. at a big disadvantage,” Trump tweeted, adding the U.S. Federal Reservedoesn’t have “a clue.” The dollar fell slightly against the euro following Trump’s tweets.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 96.701 after trading between 96.6 and 96.9 yesterday.

The Japanese yen traded at 108.47 against the dollar after scaling levels above 108.6 in the previous session, while the Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6957 following its slip from levels above $0.699 earlier in the week.

Oil prices declined in the morning of Asian trading hours, with the international benchmark Brent crude futures contract slipping 0.98% to $61.68 per barrel and U.S. crude futures falling 1.05% to $52.71 per barrel.

— CNBC’s Fred Imbert contributed to this report.