Asian shares were on the backfoot on Thursday following mixed cues from Wall Street where a sharp sell-off in the largest bitcoin exchange Coinbase hit tech shares while the dollar index struggled near one-month lows.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan paused after two straight days of gains. It was last at 690.53, a long way from a record high of 745.89 touched in February.

Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.2% while South Korea’s KOSPI index was up a tad.

Australia’s benchmark index slipped 0.4% as miners were dented by weaker prices for iron ore and coal.

Global shares have surged in recent weeks led by successful rollouts of COVID-19 vaccines around the world, U.S. stimulus packages and higher U.S. inflation expectations.