Asian shares off to cautious start, dollar soft

Asian shares were off to a cautious start near a three-year high on Tuesday while the U.S. dollar was listless as investors took new bets that U.S. monetary policy will stay loose for some time. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS ticked down 0.1 percent, though it was still within 0.3 percent from a three-year high hit three weeks ago. A string of fairly upbeat but relatively minor U.S. economic data published on Monday did little to weaken expectations, rekindled after surprisingly weak first quarter growth data, that the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep an easy monetary policy for some time. San Francisco Fed President John Williams said on Monday the U.S. central bank will probably need to keep interest rates near zero for at least another year, even as he expressed optimism the economy is on a recovery path.

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