Asian shares were mixed Monday but the yen's accelerated fall against the greenback drove Japanese stocks to a fresh five-year high, while new economic data signalled a sluggish recovery in China. The Australian dollar slid below parity with the greenback which surged on persistent speculation about a winding back of quantitative easing by Washington ahead of US retail sales data due later Monday.

The US dollar topped 100 yen for the first time in more than four years on Thursday as Tokyo's aggressive stimulus efforts to reflate the Japanese economy continue to depress its currency. The dollar at 1410 GMT was trading at 100.67 yen, up from 99.01 late Wednesday and below 78 yen in late September 2012. The dollar last traded above 100 yen in April 2009. The sharp increase in the dollar versus the yen follows an aggressive bond-buying program unveiled in April by Japan's central bank that by some benchmarks dwarfs the size of US quantitative easing.

TORONTO - North American markets opened with mixed results Friday, buoyed by strong world markets and a rising U.S. dollar but slightly disappointing Canadian jobs data. The S The Dow Jones industrial index was also down, off 10.16 points to 15,072.46, while the Nasdaq climbed 7.75 points to 3,416.92 and the S Statistics Canada reported job gains of 12,500 in April, slightly missing expectations. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 7.2 per cent, in line with what was predicted.

Japan's aggressive monetary easing policy may spark debate at a two-day meeting of the Group of Seven financial chiefs from Friday as the U.S. dollar surged to 101 yen in Tokyo for the first time in more than four years. During the gathering in Aylesbury in the suburbs of London, the G-7 finance ministers and central bank governors are expected to reaffirm their February commitment that fiscal and monetary policies should be aimed at supporting domestic demand, not targeting exchange rates, a conference source said.