Shares in Asia-Pacific fell on Thursday, with Chinese tech stocks slipping again as regulatory fears continue to weigh on investor sentiment.
The Nikkei 225 disposed of 304.74 points, or 1.1%, to 27,281.17.
Elsewhere, shares of Japanese automaker Toyota closed 4.4% lower on Thursday after the Nikkei reported the firm will slash its global production for September by 40% from what was previously planned. Other Japanese automaker stocks also declined: Nissan fell 2.6%, Honda shed 2.7% and Mitsubishi Motors declined 2.4%.
The Japanese yen traded at 109.63 per U.S. dollar, still weaker than levels below 109.5 seen against the greenback earlier this week.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index dumped 550.68 points, or 2.1%, to 25,316.33.
Shares of Alibaba in Hong Kong fell to a record low of 160.30 Hong Kong dollars on Thursday, but pared losses before the close. The stock still closed 5.5% lower.
Other Chinese tech giants listed in Hong Kong also saw heavy losses, with Tencent slipping 3.4% while Meituan dropped 7.2%
Shares of miners in Australia fell sharply on Thursday following an overnight decline in iron ore prices. Rio Tinto shares dropped 5.7% while Fortescue Metals Group declined 6.2%, and BHP plunged 6.4%.
Australia’s unemployment rate declined to 4.6% in July, against June’s reading of 4.9%, according to seasonally adjusted estimates released Thursday by the country’s Bureau of Statistics.
The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7161, having dropped from above $0.73 earlier in the week.
In other markets
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 deleted 32.1 points, or 0.7%, to 4,862.14.
In Korea, the Kospi index lost 61.1 points, or 1.9%, to 3,097.83
In Singapore, the Straits Times fell 44.47 points, or 1.4%, to 3,086.97
In Taiwan, the Taiex index tumbled 450.87 points, or 2.7%, to 16,375.40
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 defied the tide and gained 238.10 points, or 1.8%, to 12,956.98.
In Australia, the ASX 200 faded 37.51 points, or 0.5%, at 7,464.64
