Asian markets closed mixed on Thursday after a rally in the dollar was halted on political turbulence stateside while investors digested the Wednesday release of the U.S. Federal Reserve's minutes.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index dropped 26.65 points, or 0.1%, to 19,702.63, with autos and financial stocks ending the session lower.
The Hang Seng Index retreated 64.85 points, or 0.2%, to 27,344.22
Among Korean stocks, steel issues rose on optimism about third-quarter earnings. Posco finished up 4.7% and Hyundai Steel gained 2.8%.
In corporate news, airline Cathay Pacific announced a first-half loss of HK$2.05 billion ($262.07 million U.S.). The company attributed its poor performance in the first half of the year to increased competition and higher fuel prices. Cathay Pacific also added in its release that it didn't expect the operating environment to "improve materially" in the second half of the year. Shares of the company rose 1.71%.
Citi analysts maintained their "sell" call on Cathay Pacific shares in a note, adding that higher costs and competition were factors they expected to weigh on the airline's earnings. The analysts reduced their price target on the stock to HK$9.63 from HK$10.
Meanwhile, telecommunications operator China Unicom will raise almost $12 billion U.S. from investors such as Alibaba and Baidu as part of a push for mixed ownership reform. The company said in a filing to the Hong Kong Exchange that trade in shares of its Hong Kong-listed unit would remain halted despite stating in an earlier release that trade would resume Thursday.
Shares of Tencent gained 2.6%, after the company reported second-quarter profit grew 70% to 18.23 billion yuan ($2.72 billion U.S.). Tencent is the company behind popular mobile game "Honour of Kings."
While the company's second-quarter results beat forecasts, Nomura analysts noted that margin pressures remained for Tencent. Still, the analysts maintained their "buy" call on the stock in an August 17 note and raised their target price on Tencent to HK$380 from HK$341.
Australian markets failed to clear breakeven, as gains in the materials and health care sub-indexes were balanced by losses in the telecommunication services sub-index. Shares of Telstra contributed to the steep losses in the telco space: The company closed down 10.6% after it said it would reduce dividends.
The U.S. dollar took a breather after falling overnight against a basket of rival currencies. Minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's July meeting released on Wednesday also supported the move lower in the greenback.
In currencies, the greenback was softer against the Japanese currency, slipping below the 110 handle on the back of Japanese exports increasing for the eighth month in a row.
Japanese exports rose 13.4% in July compared to a year ago, in line with the 13.6% increase forecast and above the 9.7% rise seen in June. The dollar fetched 109.97 yen late afternoon local time, compared to an overnight high of 110.23 yen.
In other markets
The CSI 300 nicked up 19.86 points, or 0.5%, to 3,721.28
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index dropped 10.07 points, or 0.3%, to 3,268.88
In Taiwan, the Taiex index triumphed 78.98 points, or 0.8%, to 10,369.37
In Korea, the Kospi index gained 13.41 points, or 0.6%, to 2,361.67
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 added 16.71 points, or 0.2%, to 7,870.06
In Australia, the ASX 200 docked 5.89 points, or 0.1%, to 5,779.21
