Japanese shares led gains in a mostly flat-to-lower trading session in Asia on Thursday, as a weaker yen bolstered shares in export-oriented firms in catch-up trade after a public holiday Wednesday.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Index returned to trading by gaining 170.47 points, or 0.9%, to 18,333.41
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong dropped 68.2 points, or 0.3%, to 22,608.49
The yen weakened further against the U.S. dollar to trade at 112.76 mid-afternoon local time, compared with levels near 111.04 in the previous session and at levels below 110 U.S. in the previous week.
The weak yen pushed exporter stocks in Japan higher, with Toyota shares climbing 4.8%, Nissan up 2.6% and Honda gaining 3.9%. Shares of electronics maker Sharp rose 3.3%, while Panasonic advanced 2.9%.
Investigators in South Korea raided offices of Lotte Group, SK Group and government agencies on Thursday as part of a widening probe into alleged influence-peddling that has engulfed President Park Guen-hye
The firms were suspected of providing money to foundations controlled by Choi Soon-sil, who is a close friend of President Park and is at the center of a growing scandal in the country
Shares of Lotte Shopping fell 2.2%, Lotte Himart slipped 1.7% and Lotte Chemical was down 1.2%. SK Hynix shares fell 0.9%.
On Wednesday, investigators raided offices of Samsung Group and the National Pension Service, South Korea's largest pension fund, as part of the investigation.
In Australia, where markets were fairly flat, the heavily-weighted financial sector rose 0.3%, but the energy sector fell 0.5%, and materials dipped 0.6%.
Shares of Boral, which is in the building and construction materials business, closed down 13.3%, after the company announced the acquisition of U.S.-based Headwaters for an enterprise value of $2.6 billion U.S.
Australian gold miners plummeted, as shares of Newcrest fell 3.9% while Evolution mining was off by 5.1% and Alacer Gold fell 4.9%. Kingsgate bucked the trend to rise 13.6%.
In other markets
The CSI 300 in Shanghai added 14.01 points, or 0.4%, to 3,488.74
In Korea, the Kospi slid 16.69 points, or 0.8%, at 1,971.26
The Straits Times Index in Singapore gained 4.03 points, or 0.1%, to 2,843.72
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index erased 26.12 points, or 0.3%, to 9,152.11
The NZX 50 closed up 31.8 points, or 0.5%, at 6,883.25
Australia's benchmark ASX 200 inched up 0.72 points at 5,485.08
