Asian markets closed mostly lower on Friday after U.S. markets finished in the red on concerns about the future of tax reform stateside.
The Nikkei 225 let go of 141.23 points, or 0.6%, to 22,553.22
Major exporters traded lower as the dollar lost ground against the yen. Toyota closed down 1.8% and Honda was 1% lower. Telcos also declined, with SoftBank losing 2.4%and NTT Docomo tumbling 4.6% by the end of the day.
Japan's most recent tankan survey released on Friday showed large manufacturers' sentiment had improved for a fifth consecutive quarter. The score of plus 25 recorded was the highest in 11 years
Against the yen, the U.S. dollar was little changed at 112.25, edging lower for a third straight session.
The Hang Seng Index jettisoned 318.27 points, or 1.1%, to 28,848.11, as property and banking stocks slid. HSBC Holdings was down 1.1% and Evergrande was lower by 3.5% by that time.
Property developer Sunac China saw its Hong Kong-listed shares plunge 9.4% after it announced it would sell roughly 7.82 billion Hong Kong dollars ($1 billion U.S) of new shares to Sunac International Investment, a wholly owned company of Sunac China Chairman Sun Hongbin. Sunac said it will be using the proceeds from the sale "for the general working capital of the company."
Shares of Hong Kong's Li & Fung jumped 7.8% after the company said it would be divesting its furniture, beauty and sweaters verticals for $1.1 billion U.S. The buyer is an entity linked to Hony Capital, a Chinese private equity firm.
In Korea, blue-chips contributed to gains on Friday. Hyundai Motor rose 2.3% and Posco closed up 0.9% although heavyweight Samsung Electronics declined 0.9% on the day.
Down Under, heavily-weighted financials were weaker, while major miners gained: Rio Tinto reversed early losses to climb 1.1% and BHP was 0.04% higher at the end of the session.
CHINA
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 dropped 45.29 points, or 1.1%, to 3,980.86, with technology among the worst-performing sectors on the day.
Chinese conglomerate HNA Group has repurchased some of its bonds, citing "the impact of recent market fluctuations" on bond prices as a reason for doing so. The company did not provide any numbers, but said it intended to repurchase more bonds ahead. Shares of Hong Kong-listed HNA Holding were down 4.1%
Chinese developer Dalian Wanda Group said in a Thursday statement that its revenue in 2017 was projected to be above 200 billion yuan ($30.2 billion U.S.) after an online article suggested the company's cash flow "has obviously been cut off." Wanda said it would be taking legal action over the article, which also suggested the company had ties to a corrupt government official.
In other markets
In Korea, the Kospi index gained 12.59 points, or 0.5%, to 2,482.07
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index lost 46.57 points, or 0.4%, to 10,491.44
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index slumped 18.84 points, or 0.6%, to 3,416.94
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 added 37.11 points, or 0.5%, to 8,360.86
In Australia, the ASX 200 hesitated 14.29 points, or 0.2%, to 5,996.97
