Asian shares extend global sell-off, dollar holds gains

SYDNEY, Jan 3 (Reuters) – Asian shares extended a global sell-off on Wednesday while the dollar held gains as market optimism about early and aggressive U.S. 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% after a 1.0% 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%, Australia’s resources heavy stocks declined 1.1%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1%, driven by a 1.5% plunge in technology shares. “Risk assets struggled a tad yesterday, and that makes a degree of sense given the complicated back story, and the remarkable…