The dollar was under pressure but global shares found support on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reiterated the Fed's commitment to easy policy, cementing expectations its stimulus will stay for the rest of year.
Chinese policymakers set the yuan's midpoint at the highest level since the 2005 revaluation, a day after China's central bank said it would gradually withdraw from regular intervention in the foreign exchange market.
Asset prices were boosted slightly when Bernanke said the Fed would maintain its ultra-easy policy for as long as needed and would taper bond-buying only when it was sure that labour market improvements would continue.
Bernanke's comments boosted the euro to a three-week high of $1.3584. The common currency last traded at $1.3549, up slightly from late U.S. levels.
While a slight pullback in Wall Street shares on Tuesday was a damper on shares across Asia, many markets showed resilience even after hefty gains in the past couple of days on optimism on Beijing's ambitious reform plans.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.2 percent but was still up 1.3 percent from the start of week, outperforming the 0.6 percent fall in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.
Hong Kong shares, which have gained 2.7 percent so far this week, extended gains while mainland shares were mostly flat.
"I think Hong Kong shares are best-placed at the moment, as they are likely to benefit from easy U.S. monetary policy as well as hopes on reforms in China," said Hirokazu Yuihama, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities.
Japan's Nikkei share average rose as much as 0.5 percent before ceding some gains.
Source: Reuters
