Asian equities finished in negative territory on Thursday after China's inflation data painted a mixed picture.
The Nikkei 225 Index recovered 64.55 points, or 0.3%, to 19,318.58, breaking a string of three straight losses, as the weaker yen spurred buying.
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong lost 280.71 points, or 1.2%, to 23,501.56
The stronger U.S. dollar led the yen to weaken to 114.54 by mid-afternoon local time and the Australian dollar slipped to $0.7509 U.S. Indexes in Australia were weighed heavily by a 1.1% drop in its energy sub-index and a 2.6% decline in its materials sub-index.
The Korean won had a volatile session, fetching as much as 1,157.7 U.S. earlier in the session, before heading to 1,156.05 against the U.S. dollar by late afternoon local time.
Meanwhile, Samsung Group's chief Jay Y. Lee will go on trial for bribery and embezzlement, amid a corruption scandal that led to the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye.
Shares of Samsung Electronics was flat, Samsung C&T fell 0.8% and Samsung Heavy shed 3.3%
CHINA
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 slid 21.79 points, or 0.6%, to 3,426.94
China's producer price index jumped more than expected by 7.8% in February from the previous year, the fastest pace since Sept. 2008.
In contrast, consumer prices slowed from a year ago, to 0.8%, its slowest pace since Jan. 2015.
On Wednesday, China unexpectedly posted its first trade deficit in three years last month, as a construction boom pushed imports up 38.1% in dollar-denominated terms as exports fell 1.3%.
The upbeat data reinforced that China's economic activity picked up in the first two months in 2017 and contributed to a global manufacturing revival
In other markets
In Taiwan, the Taiex subtracted 94.84 points, or 1%, to 9,658.61
The Kospi Index in Korea faded 4.35 points, or 0.2%, to 2,091.06
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index lost 26.45 points, or 0.8%, to 3,118.84
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 gave back 37.24 points, or 0.5%, to 7,140.98
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 dropped 18.46 points, or 0.3%, to 5,741.20
