Asia markets were mixed on Thursday following U.S. losses, with sentiment likely driven by Wednesday's drop in oil price and anticipation of another data deluge from China on Friday.
Japanese markets were closed for the Mountain Day public holiday.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index gained 88.12 points, or 0.4%, to 22,580.55
In stock news, major Australian bank Westpac announced its stressed assets climbed by 12 basis points in the third quarter, reflecting a rise in mortgage delinquencies in regions affected by the mining slowdown. Impairment charges for the quarter were below the quarterly average for first half 2016.
Westpac's announcement follows the Commonwealth Bank of Australia's Wednesday earnings results where the CBA said its loan impairment expenses were up 27% for the full year 2016 due to higher provisioning for resource, commodity and dairy exposures.
Australian banks have been under pressure this year due to their exposure to the country's resources sectors that have slumped, partly due to a slowdown in demand from key trading partner China.
Westpac shares were down 2.7%, dragging the other major banks lower. Commonwealth Bank of Australia slipped 1.9%,, ANZ was down 1% and the National Australia Bank also fell 1%
In earnings news, Singapore Telecommunications said its first-quarter net profit was steady at 944 million Singapore dollars ($702.68 million U.S.), marginally up from S$941.6 million from a year earlier. Singtel said mobile data and cyber security services were key growth drivers.
Singtel shares traded up 1.9% in afternoon trade.
Singapore also downgraded its 2016 economic growth forecast to 1-2% versus an earlier prediction of 1-3% growth. This came after the southeast Asian economy expanded 0.3% in the April-June period from the previous three months, compared with the government's advanced estimate of 0.8%.
Central banks also were in focus as the South Korea's central bank held benchmark interest rates steady, as expected, at 1.25%, however the Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut rates by a quarter point to 2%.
The Korean won weakened against the U.S. dollar; before the central bank's decision was announced, the won traded as high as 1,093.00 before withdrawing to a session low of 1,103.00. As of late afternoon local time, the currency pair traded at 1,098.28.
The New Zealand dollar traded higher against the U.S. dollar after the decision, reaching a session high of $0.7341, compared to levels near $0.7200 before. As of late afternoon, the kiwi traded at $0.7267 U.S.
CHINA
The Shanghai CSI 300 dipped 9.98 points, or 0.3%, to 3,233.36
In China, the yuan traded at 6.6406 against the U.S. dollar. The Chinese central bank set the yuan mid-point fix at 6.6255. The People's Bank of China allows the yuan to move within a 2% band around the daily fix.
Thursday marked one year since China's decision to shift the market mechanism for the setting of the yuan's daily fix against the greenback, saying it would set the spot rate based on the previous day's close, compared to the slightly more arbitrary fixing before.
In other markets
The Taiex Index in Taiwan subtracted 68.59 points, or 0.8%, to 9,131.83
In Korea, the Kospi gathered 4.16 points, or 0.2%, to 2,048.80
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index dropped 5.75 points, or 0.2%, to 2,875.57
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 forged ahead 4.22 points, or 0.1%, to 7,353.83
The ASX 200 deleted 35.69 points, or 0.6%, to 5,508.02
