Asian shares came under pressure on Friday after Wall Street closed mixed and yields on U.S. government debt rose in the last session.
The Nikkei 225 average in Japan dropped 211.58 points, or 0.9%, to 23,274.53, after snapping a six-day losing streak in the previous session.
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong eased 40.31 points, or 0.1%, to 32,601.78
Technology names were mostly lower, with heavyweight SoftBank falling 1.4%. Among other large cap names, Fanuc Manufacturing lost 1.3% and Fast Retailing lost nearly 2% by the end of the session.
Airlines were also lower on the day, with ANA Holdings closing down 4.1%
Shares of Nomura Holdings finished the session down 2.9%, underperforming other financials, after the company announced third-quarter earnings on Thursday. Net income for the quarter rose around 25% on year to 88 billion yen ($804.8 million U.S.).
Weakness in the benchmark index came as the country's central bank attempted to stop the rise in Japanese bond yields by offering to purchase an unlimited amount of long-term Japanese government bonds.
The U.S. dollar extended overnight gains against the yen to trade at 109.81
In Hong Kong, financials were mixed in the afternoon: HSBC slipped 0.2% and Bank of China eased 0.4%. The energy space saw significant gains, with CNOOC trading higher by 4.6% ahead of the market close.
Ahead of the market close, Apple suppliers AAC Technologies and Sunny Optical rose 7.8% and 4.4%, respectively, following the U.S. tech giant's expectation-topping quarterly results.
Across the Korean Strait, the Kospi fell as declines in blue chip tech names drove the index lower. Samsung Electronics lost 4.3%, SK Hynix declined 3% and Samsung SDI fell 4.5%.
Down Under, stocks gained as the energy and gold sectors were among the best-performing in the session, climbing 2.4% and 1.5% respectively. The heavily-weighted financials sub-index edged up 0.6% on the day.
CHINA
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 gained 25.33 points, or 0.6%, to 4,271.23
New York-listed Alibaba announced Thursday that third-quarter revenue rose 56%, which was above what analysts were forecasting. The e-commerce giant said in a statement that it would take on a 33% stake in its payments arm, Ant Financial.
In other markets
The Kospi in Korea gave back 43.15 points, or 1.7%, to 2,525.39
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index fell 34.02 points, or 0.3%, to 11,126.23
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index settled 17.41 points, or 0.5%, to 3,529.82
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 recovered 31.42 points, or 0.4%, to 8,415.29
The ASX hiked 31.32 points, or 0.5%, to 6,121.39
