Asian stocks ended mostly lower on Thursday as financial markets offered a muted reaction to the passage of major U.S. tax reform, which will lower tax rates for both businesses and individual Americans.
Chinese stocks rose after Xinhua news agency said the country is committed to maintain economic growth in a reasonable range next year.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite index inched up 12.45 points or 0.38 percent to 3,300.66 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up 0.45 percent at 29,367 in late trade.
Japanese shares closed lower even as the dollar held near a one-week high against the yen, supported by a rise in U.S. bond yields.
The Nikkei average slid 25.62 points or 0.11 percent to 22,866.10, led down by banks as the Bank of Japan left its monetary policy unchanged as widely expected, underscoring its conviction that recovery in the world's third largest economy was gathering momentum.
The broader Topix index closed 0.08 percent lower at 1,822.61, with banks Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial ending down over 1 percent each. Fast Retailing lost 1.4 percent after preliminary data showed Japan's supermarket sales dropped in November from a year ago.
Australian shares pulled back from near 10-year highs as markets gave relatively lukewarm response to the passage of the GOP's tax plan in the U.S. Gains in the mining sector helped to limit overall losses to some extent.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index dropped 15.20 points or 0.25 percent to 6,060.40 while the broader All Ordinaries index ended down 11.60 points or 0.19 percent at 6,156.30.
Banks ANZ, Commonwealth, NAB and Westpac fell between 0.6 percent and 0.9 percent. Firmer base metals prices helped lift miners, with BHP Billiton rallying 1.4 percent and Rio Tinto climbing 1 percent.
Oil and gas producer AWE tumbled 2.8 percent after it agreed to a revised takeover bid from mining services provider Mineral Resources. BlueScope Steel soared 4.3 percent after lifting its first-half guidance.
Seoul stocks plunged to a near three-month low after a late sell-off by foreign investors amid worries over a potential conflict with North Korea and on apprehensions over the fourth-quarter corporate earnings season.
The benchmark Kospi slumped 42.54 points or 1.72 percent to 2,429.83, marking its biggest single-day loss since July, dragged down by tech and chemical stocks. Tech heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix lost 3-4 percent.
New Zealand shares closed a tad lower in the last full day of trading before Christmas. The benchmark S&P/NZX50 index dropped 19.12 points or 0.23 percent to 8,364.44, with Freightways and Kathmandu Holdings pacing the decliners.
New Zealand's GDP grew 0.6 percent sequentially in the third quarter of 2017, Statistics New Zealand said today. That was in line with expectations and up from the upwardly revised 1.0 percent increase in the three months prior.
Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index was rising over 1 percent after Fitch upgraded the country's credit rating, saying the country's resilience to external stocks has steadily strengthened in the past few years.
India's Sensex was little changed and Malaysia's KLSE Composite index was gaining 0.1 percent while benchmark indexes in Singapore and Taiwan were down about 0.2 percent each.
Overnight, the major U.S. averages fell around 0.1 percent even as housing data painted a positive picture of the economy and the House of Representatives approved a sweeping tax reform bill and sent it to President Donald Trump's desk.
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