Shares in Japan declined Friday after economic growth was revised significantly lower, knocking blue chips, and machinery orders weighed on industrial shares traded on the Nikkei. Other Asian stocks were mostly lower.
Japan's Nikkei 225 Average retreated 55.54 points, or 0.34 percent, to finish at 16,417.82 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 103 points, or 0.55 percent, to 18,739.99.
Japan's government on Friday revised downward its gross domestic product figures for the July-September quarter, saying the economy grew at an annual pace of 0.8 percent instead of the previously announced 2.0 percent.
The revised data showed domestic demand had shrunk, rather than inched up as the previous reading had shown, and consumer spending slipped more than the earlier data.
Another government report, released Friday afternoon, showed Japanese core machinery orders rose 2.8 percent in October from September, short of the 5.7 percent gain economists had projected.
Stock in machinery and semiconductor-related sectors declined, with Fanuc Ltd. falling 0.47 percent and Advantest Corp. posting a 0.79 percent fall.
Elsewhere:
BANGKOK: Thai shares declined 0.6 percent to 740.94 points, tracking Wall Street's overnight decline and weaknesses in other Asian markets.
JAKARTA: Indonesia shares dipped 0.4 percent to 1,775.29, led by profit taking in Telkom.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian shares finished nearly flat in moderate volume at 1,098.59 points despite profit-taking across all sectors in early trading.
MANILA: Philippine shares advanced on strong gains in Manila Electric Co. after the Supreme Court upheld the power distributor's tariff rate increase. The benchmark 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange Index jumped 35.22 points, or 1.3 percent, to 2,831.40.
MUMBAI: Indian shares fell on profit taking in index heavyweights. The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-stock Sensitive Index, or Sensex, dropped 172.54 points, or 1.2 percent, to 13,799.49.
SEOUL: South Korean shares lost ground, led by losses in technology issues amid continued worries about the South Korean won's strength. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index, or Kospi, closed below the psychologically significant level of 1400 for the first time in a month, declining 19.87 points, or 1.4 percent, to 1,390.43.
SHANGHAI/SHENZHEN: Chinese shares were dragged lower by speculation of another monetary tightening move this weekend and profit-taking in recent gainers. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index plunged 2.9 percent to 2,093.64 points and the Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 3.3 percent to 489.33.
SINGAPORE: Singapore shares dropped 36.66 points, or 1.3 percent, to 2,865.14.
TAIPEI: Taiwan shares dropped amid uncertainly over weekend's municipal elections. The Weighted Price Index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange fell 50.22 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at 7,636.30 on profit-taking.
WELLINGTON: New Zealand shares rose sharply, buoyed by solid institutional buying of blue chips including Telecom Corp. of New Zealand and Fletcher Building. The NZX-50 advanced 35 points, or 0.9 percent, to 3,888.72 amid moderate volume, after brushing a fresh all-time high of 3,893.22 during the session.
SYDNEY: Australian shares fell, led by miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, after copper and zinc prices dropped overnight and as investors looked ahead to U.S. data due to be released later Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index dipped 0.7 percent to 5,425.8 points.
With files from wire services
