Asia markets ended lower Thursday, amid fresh declines in oil prices and concerns the U.S. Federal Reserve may hike interest rates sooner than expected.
The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo fell 108.65 points, or 0.6%, to 16,892.33
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index collapsed 269.62 points, or 1.3%, to 20,345.61
Expectations of an earlier tightening by the U.S. Federal Reserve were seeping through markets, albeit at a slow pace, with fewer investors willing to place bets on what the Fed says it might do.
The Japanese yen remained at the 112 level against the greenback, with the U.S. dollar/yen pair trading up 0.5% at 112.86 in late afternoon local time, off a session low of 112.27.
Major Japanese exporters finished down, with Toyota falling 1.6%, Nissan off 1% and Honda down by 1.6%. A stronger yen is usually a negative for exporters as it reduces their overseas profits when converted to local currency.
In corporate news, Japan's Nikkei reported that trading houses Mitsubishi Corp. and Mitsui & Co. are both expected to post their first-ever group net losses in the fiscal year ending March 31 on impairment losses on resource projects. The paper said Mitsubishi's group net loss is expected to be more than 100 billion yen ($887 million U.S.).
Reuters also reported that a slide in energy and metal prices forced Mitsui & Co. to book 260 billion yen in writedowns on Wednesday.
Shares of Mitsubishi Corp. closed down 4.1% while Mitsui & Co tumbled 7.5%.
The Australian dollar retreated against the U.S. dollar, flirting with levels under $0.75 in late afternoon local time, after commodity currencies were sold off overnight. The Australian dollar was fetching $0.7482, compared with levels as high as $0.7643 overnight.
Australian banking stocks were sharply lower, with ANZ closing down 5.2%, Commonwealth Bank of Australia off by 2.5%, Westpac down 4.6% and NAB falling 3.5%
Earlier today, ANZ told the market it was expecting its first half of 2016 credit charges to increase by at least an additional 100 million Australian dollars ($75.10 million U.S.) on top of the more than A$800 million it had anticipated in February due to resource-related exposures.
Among major Aussie miners, Rio Tinto closed down 3.6%, BHP Billiton was off by 3.4% and Fortescue was lower by 2.3%
CHINA
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 lost 54.24 points, or 1.7%, to 3,181.85
Chinese metal plays were also lower, with Baoshan Steel closing down 1.9%, Yunnan Copper off 5.1% and Aluminium Corp.down 3.8%
Before market open, the People's Bank of China set the yuan mid-point fix at 6.5150 to the U.S. dollar, compared with Wednesday's fix of 6.4936. The dollar/yuan pair traded up 0.1% at 6.5100.
In other markets;
In Korea, the Kospi index doffed 9.15 points, or 0.5%, to 1,985.97
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index dropped 22.71 points, or 0.3%, to 8,743.38
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index gave back 34.59 points, or 1.2%, to 2,847.39
The NZX 50 in New Zealand subtracted 6.32 points, or 0.1%, to 6,662.55
In Australia, the ASX 200 settled 58.06 points, or 1.1%, to 5,084.21
