Asia markets were mixed on Thursday, following modest gains on Wall Street, where the Dow closed higher for the first time in six sessions.
The Nikkei 225 Index regrouped 104.29 points, or 0.5%, to close Thursday at 22,319.61
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index shed 320.47 points, or 1.1%, to 30,007.68
In earnings news, Japanese game maker Nintendo said it expected operating profit to rise 26.7% in the year through March to a nine-year high. Nintendo's Switch games console maintained sales momentum in its second year, the news wire reported.
Nintendo estimated profit to reach 225 billion yen ($2.06 billion U.S.) from 177.56 billion yen a year earlier.
The announcement came after the Tokyo market closed. For the Thursday session, Nintendo shares were down 2%
South Korean tech giant Samsung announced first quarter results. The largest smartphone vendor posted an operating profit of 15.64 trillion Korean won ($14.45 billion U.S.) for the three months ended March — in line with an earlier estimate and a 58% on-year jump.
Samsung's consolidated revenue came in at 60.56 trillion won. The company said its first-quarter revenue was mainly driven by its memory chips business and the increased sales of its flagship smartphones such as the Galaxy S9.
Samsung shares rose 3.5%, beating the broader Kospi index.
In Australia, the heavily weighted financial sector was down 1.8% and major banking stocks fell — shares of Westpac fell 3.6% while ANZ was down 2.1%, Commonwealth Bank was down 1.7% and the National Australia Bank lost 2.1%.
Elsewhere, the Japanese yen traded at 109.26 against the dollar, weakening from levels below 108.0 reached in the previous week. The
Australian dollar traded at $0.7570 while the euro fetched $1.2177.
In other markets
In China, the CSI 300 fell 73.21 points, or 1.9%, to 3,755.49
In Korea, the Kospi Index regained 26.83 points, or 1.1%, to 2,475.64
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index inched up 2.01 points, or 0.1%, to 3,5670.02
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index dropped 71.39 points, or 0.7%, to 10,488.58
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 fell 6.59 points, or 0.1%, to 8,282, 05, after being shuttered Wednesday for ANZAC Day.
In Australia, the ASX 200 returned from holiday to slip 10.78 points, or 0.2%, to 5,910.77
