Asian indexes mostly declined Thursday as caution dominated after a day of hefty gains, with stocks in Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Sydney, Taiwan and Seoul unable to sustain their early advances.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei average fell 0.7 percent to 15,396.30, while the broader Topix index added 0.1 percent at 1,498.86.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index finished 1.4 percent lower at 28,751.21, after it soared nearly 5 percent in the previous session. The index had risen as high as 29,249.99 earlier in the day. The 43-issue Hang Seng China Enterprises index fell 2 percent to 17,485.46.
HSBC Holdings' stock fell 0.1 percent, after it announced that it has taken a $3.4 billion impairment charge for the third quarter on bad debts at HSBC Finance.
China related shares continued to face selling pressure, with energy producer Cnooc, one of the biggest losers during the recent correction, ending the day 1.9 percent lower, while shares of China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, dropped 3.4 percent.
In Tokyo, exporters gave up their early as the yen remained unsettled against major global currencies. Canon Inc. dropped 0.5 percent, Honda Motor Co. lost 1.3 percent and Nintendo Co. fell 0.2 percent, all of them giving up early gains.
Shares of Nikko Cordial Group surged 7.2 percent after Citigroup Inc. amended the terms for a planned stock swap with the Japanese brokerage, improving the terms of the deal for Nikko Cordial shareholders. Tokyo-listed shares of Citi rose 1.8 percent.
ELSEWHERE:
MUMBAI: India's Sensex shed 0.7percent at 19,797.63.
SEOUL: South Korea's Kospi dropped 1.3 percent to 1,947.74.
SHANGHAI: The benchmark Shanghai Composite lost 0.9 percent at 5,365.27.
SINGAPORE: The Straits Times Index dropped 1 percent to 3,489.09.
SYDNEY: Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.1 percent to 6,528.60.
TAIPEI: Taiwan's Weighted index declined 0.4 percent to 8,905.41.
WELLINGTON: New Zealand's NZX 50 index lost 0.7 percent at 4,113.05.
with files from other wire services
