SYDNEY, Australia – Stocks in Asia advanced on Thursday but gains were limited, and not universal.

China’s Shanghai Composite finished flat.

The U.S. dollar was mixed.

At the close of trading Thursday, the Nikkei 225 in Japan was ahead 81.98 points or 0.36% at 22,695.74.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 40.68 points or 0.17% to 24,366.30.

The Australian All Ordinaries advanced 47.10 points or 0.78% to 6,112.00 after Prime Minister Scott Morrison unveiled a fourth economic stimulus package, this time aimed at the construction sector.

In China the Shanghai Composite dipped 4.12 points or 0.17% to 2,919.25.

On foreign exchange markets the euro edged up to 1.1196. The British pound was strong at 1.2509. The Swiss franc was little changed at 0.9615.

The Canadian dollar was unchanged at 1.3497, the Australian dollar softened to 0.6897 after its recent heady run, while the New Zealand dollar firmed to 0.6409.

The Japanese yen fell to 109.06.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was ahead 527.24 points, or 2.05%, at 26,269.89.

The Standard and Poor’s 500 added 42.05 points, or 1.36%, to 3,122.87.

The Nasdaq Composite gained 74.54 points, or 0.78%, to 9,682.91.