Hong Kong stocks broke a four-day string of gains on Thursday, after a private survey showed China’s manufacturing growth eased in August.
The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo vaulted 131.75 points, or 0.9%, to 15,586.20, while the yen weakened to ¥103.841 from ¥103.710 a day earlier.
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong lost 165.66 points, or 0.7%, to 24,994.10.
State-owned major banks fell across the board, with China Merchants Bank Co., Ltd. sliding 2.2%, Bank of Communications Co., Ltd. declining 1.7%, and both Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. and China Citic Bank Corporation Ltd. down 1.6%.
Index heavyweight China Mobile Ltd. fell 0.3%, after state-run Xinhua News said the telecom had denied reported plans for massive layoffs involving 300,000 contract labourers.
China Mobile’s smaller rivals China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd and China Telecom Corp also said they had no immediate plans to cut jobs. Shares of China Unicom rose 0.8%, and China Telecom traded up 0.2%.
The "flash" version of HSBC’s China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index dropped in August to 50.3 from July’s final reading of 51.7, marking the lowest level in three months, according to data out on Thursday from HSBC and Markit.
In other markets;
The Shanghai CSI 300 index dropped 11.90 points, or 0.5%, to 2,354.24.
In Singapore, the Straits Times STI Index added but 0.44 points to 3,324.09.
In Korea, the Kospi index subtracted 28.57 points, or 1.4%, to 2,044.21
The Taiex Index in Taiwan moved down 34.67 points, or 0.4%, to 9,253.38
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 improved 12.58 points, or 0.2%, to 5,152.92
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 took on 4.26 points, or 0.1%, to 5,638.86
