Asian shares kicked off the new decade higher on Thursday, after global stocks ended the previous one at record highs, and buoyed by Chinese markets after Beijing eased monetary policy to support growth.

In China, the blue-chip CSI300 index, one of the world's best-performing indexes last year, was 1.34 percent higher in early trade.

China's central bank on Wednesday said that it would cut the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves, releasing around 800 billion yuan in funds effective on January 6.

Read more: China's RRR cut seen to boost growth more than liquidity management

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.35 percent in morning trade after rising 5.6 percent in December.

MSCI's all-country world index of stock performance in 49 nations touched an all-time high of 567.80 on December 27. It was last quoted at 565.46, off 0.41 percent from that peak.

Australian shares flicked between small gains and losses, and were last up 0.2 percent. Seoul's Kospi began the year down 0.85 percent, while shares in Taiwan added 0.51 percent.

Markets in Japan are closed for a national holiday.

The gains in Asia follow a bullish end to the year on Wall Street on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.27 percent to 28,538.44 and the S&P 500 gained 0.29 percent to 3,230.78. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.3 percent to 8,972.60.

In currency markets on Thursday, the dollar continued to weaken slightly against major peers as investors bet on a better outlook for global growth and trade.

The dollar was 0.06 percent weaker against the yen at 108.64 while the euro gained 0.11 percent to 1.1222.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six rivals, was little changed, rising 0.04 percent to 96.427.

U.S. crude CLc1 was up 0.36 percent to 61.28 U.S. dollars and global benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 rose to 66.24 U.S. dollars per barrel, building on a rise that gave oil its biggest annual gain in three years in 2019.

Gold, which has benefited from a weaker greenback, was up 0.18 percent on the spot market, fetching 1,519.64 U.S. dollars per ounce.