Stocks in Asia fell on Thursday as a data release showed employment in Australia falling in April.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 tumbled 352.27 points, or 1.7%, to 19,914.78.
The Japanese yen traded at 106.82 against the U.S. dollar after seeing an earlier low of 107.08.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong slid 350.56 points, or 1.5%, to 23,829.74.
Shares of Chinese tech juggernaut Tencent in Hong Kong shed most of their gains but held fractionally higher. The stock had earlier seen a more than two year high after the firm posted its first-quarter earnings which beat expectations.
Online games revenue grew 31% year-on-year to 37.3 billion yuan. Total smartphone game revenue came in at 34.7 billion yuan for the March quarter. Analysts at investment bank Jefferies had expected a revenue figure of 31.6 billion yuan.
On the economic data front, seasonally adjusted employment in Australia fell by 594,300 people in April as compared to March, according to data released by the country’s Bureau of Statistics on Thursday.
The Australian dollar was at $0.6442 after weakening from highs above $0.654 seen earlier in the trading week.
In other markets
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 dropped 43.03 points, or 1.1%, to 3,925.31.
In Korea, the Kospi shed 15.46 points, or 0.8%, to 1,924.96
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index ditched 49.7 points, or 1.9%, to 2,522.31
In Taiwan, the Taiex index rumbled lower 157.39 points, or 1.4%, to 10,780.88
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 faltered 42.86 points, or 0.4%, to 10,745.16.
In Australia, the ASX 200 subtracted 93.13 points, or 1.7%, to 5,328.72.
