Asian shares came under pressure on Thursday as a disappointing survey on Chinese manufacturing stoked concerns about the regional giant and overshadowed better news from Japan. Investors reacted by selling the Australian dollar (AUD=D4), often a used as a liquid proxy for bets on China, while shares in Shanghai dropped 0.5 percent (.SSEC). MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan skidded 0.6 percent, with indices in South Korea (.KS11) and Taiwan (.TWII) in the red.