Asian markets finished on either side of break-even after a choppy session Thursday. Exporters forced a retreat in Tokyo for the first time in six sessions.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 settled 67.75 points, or 0.7%, to 9,999.40.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index returned from holiday to pick up 76.25 points, or 0.4%, to 20,138.40
Energy stocks such as Cnooc led the Hong Kong market higher as trading resumed after Wednesday's holiday and as crude-oil prices settled above $77 U.S. a barrel in New York. But Chinese shares declined, failing to latch on to early gains, as the market reopened for the first time this week after a public holiday.
Sentiment was muted and trading volumes were weak in some markets. Stocks were also pressured as investors locked in some of the strong recent gains after a larger-than-expected drop in U.S. housing starts and on concerns over Spanish debt problems.
Japanese stocks fell on profit-taking in exporters' stocks, spurred by the yen's gains against the U.S. dollar and the euro. Sony Corp. dropped 2.8% and Canon shed 1.6%.
Consumer finance firm Takefuji Corp. surged 6% on a Nikkei report that it had enough funds for the redemption of 41.4 billion yen ($454 million U.S.) in convertible bonds. Among its peers, Acom and Promise gained were up 2.1% and 4.9%, respectively.
Toshiba Corp. rose 0.8% and Fujitsu added 1% on news the two firms have agreed to merge their mobile phone operations. The venture will be the second largest player in Japan's handset market.
Mitsui & Co. gained 2.2%, after BP agreed to put $20 billion U.S. in an independently-administered escrow fund to help pay for damage claims stemming from the Gulf oil spill and said it wouldn't issue further dividends this year, lifting some uncertainty.
The trading house has a 10% stake in the troubled oil drilling operations.
In Hong Kong, blue-chip Henderson Land Development fell 2.3% after the firm Tuesday said it will book a loss of 734 million Hong Kong dollars ($94 million U.S.) in the first-half of this year from the cancellation of sales at a luxury residential project.
Tencent Holdings dropped 1.9%, on fears of a slowdown in the online gaming segment. Goldman Sachs analysts cut their target price for the stock to HK$152 from HK$180.
But Cnooc jumped 2.3% and PetroChina inched up 0.1% on an overnight rally in crude-oil prices. July Nymex crude-oil futures were down 74 cents at $76.93 U.S. per barrel on Globex.
In Sydney, Leighton Holdings climbed 2.2% on news it's won 1.5 billion Australian dollars ($1.29 billion U.S.) worth of contracts.
In Seoul, airline and automobile stocks led gains amid hopes for solid earnings this year. Kia Motors climbed 0.8% and Asiana Airlines spiked 6.8%.
Shipbuilders got a boost form news flows on order wins, with Hyundai Mipo Dockyard rising 1.5% after securing a 338 billion won ($279 million U.S.) bulk ship order from Europe.
CHINA
Shares in Shanghai reversed early gains as investors fretted over the sustainability of China's robust growth.
Shanghai’s CSI 300 Index returned from three days off, to subside 16.13 points, or 0.6%, to 2,742.73
Pharmaceutical companies were leading losses on continued profit-taking. Jiangzhong Pharmaceutical slumped 7% and Harbin Pharmaceutical sank 8.9%. Despite the day's fall, Jiangzhong is up more than 40% in the year to date, while Harbin is up nearly 10%.
Elsewhere;
Singapore’s Straits Times Index moved 2.99 points, or 0.1%, lower to 2,843.95
Korea’s Kospi index gained 2.59 points, or 0.2%, to 1,707.92
Taiwan’s Taiex Index returned from a day off to add 61.32 points, or 0.8%, to 7,515.78.
New Zealand’s NZX index slid 20.86 points, or 0.7%, to 3,045.72
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 31.70 points, or 0.7%, to 4,527.30
