Asian shares were subdued and the dollar held modest gains against the yen in early trade on Friday as markets held their breath ahead of the U.S. payrolls report later in the session – which could show the economy shaking off a severe winter. The Asian markets drew scant impetus from Wall Street, which closed little changed ahead of the jobs report. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.1 percent in early trading, while Japan’s Nikkei stock average (NIK:^9452) lost 0.2 percent.