Stocks in Asia-Pacific were lower on Thursday, as mainland Chinese markets returned to trade after a long Lunar New Year break.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 lost 56.1 points, or 0.2%, to 30,236.09.
The Japanese yen traded at 105.88 per U.S. dollar, weaker than levels below 105.6 against the greenback seen earlier this week.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng crumbled 489.67 points, or 1.6%, to 30,595.27.
Australia’s unemployment rate decreased to 6.4% in January, according to seasonally adjusted estimates released Thursday by the country’s Bureau of Statistics. That compared against December’s unemployment rate of 6.6%.
The Australian dollar was at $0.7751 after seeing levels around $0.78 earlier in the trading week.
In other markets
In China, the CSI 300 returned from holiday to drop 39.34 points, or 0.7%, to 5,768.38
In Singapore, the Straits Times index fell 11.58 points, or 0.4%, to 2,908.85.
In Korea, the Kospi waned 47.07 points, or 1.5%, to 3,086.66.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 stumbled 40.37 points, or 0.3%, to 12,633.60.
In Australia, the ASX 200 resisted the tide and actually gained 0.65 points to 6,885.87.
