SYDNEY, NSW, Australia – Stocks in Asia remained listless Thursday.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan rose just 8.39 points or 0.03 percent to 26,808.37.

The Australian All Ordinaries advanced 36.00 points or 0.53 percent to 6,847.30.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong in late trading was modestly higher, while China’s Shanghai Composite was a fraction lower.

The U.S. dollar remained on the nose in Asian trading Thursday. The euro jumped to a two-and-a-half year high, closing in Sydney around 1.2116. The British pound was well bid, albeit off earlier highs at 1.3389. The Japanese yen inched up[ to 104.45. The Swiss franc was higher at 0.8941.

The Canadian dollar was well bid at 1.2923. The Australian dollar climbed to 0.7414. The New Zealand dollar was strong but sanguine at 0.7066.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones index rose 59.87 points or 0.20 percent to close at 29,883.79.

The Standard and Poor’s 500 edged up 6.56 points or 0.18 percent to 3,669.01.

The Nasdaq Composite declined 5.74 points or 0.05 percent to 12,349.37.