Asian shares extend global sell-off, dollar holds gains

SYDNEY, Jan 3 — Asian shares extended a global sell-off today while the dollar held gains as market optimism about early and aggressive US interest rate cuts ebbed ahead of the release of Fed minutes and jobs data. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.1 per cent after a 1.0 per cent drop the previous day in a sluggish start of the new year. Japan markets remain shut for a holiday. South Korean shares slid 1.8 per cent, Australia’s resources heavy stocks declined 1.1 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1 per cent, driven by a 1.5 per cent plunge in technology shares. “Risk assets struggled a tad yesterday, and that makes a degree…