Stocks in Asia traded lower on Thursday morning as a data release showed employment in Australia falling in April.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dipped 0.68% in morning trade while the Topix index also shed 0.73%. South Korea's Kospi also declined 1.08%.
Mainland Chinese stocks declined in early trade, with the Shanghai composite 0.56% lower while the Shenzhen composite slipped 0.365%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index 1.26%, though shares of Chinese tech juggernaut Tencent jumped 1.82% 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.
Shares in Australia were also lower, with the S&P/ASX 200 down 1%.
Overall, the MSCI Asia-ex Japan index traded 0.92% lower.
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.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 516.81 points to close at 23,247.97 while the S&P 500 finished its trading day around 1.75% lower at 2,820. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.6% to close at 8,863.17.
The moves downward stateside came as U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday that more may need to be done to support the economy.
"While the economic response has been both timely and appropriately large, it may not be the final chapter, given that the path ahead is both highly uncertain and subject to significant downside risks," Powell said in prepared remarks for a webcast event with the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 100.238 after rising from levels below 100 yesterday.
"The mid-week rise in the USD index (DXY) to 100.2 was not solely attributed to the Fed Chairman Powell's push back against negative US interest rates," strategists at Singapore's DBS Group wrote in a Thursday note. "His warning of a possible deeper and longer recession without additional fiscal stimulus dampened risk appetite."
"Put simply, the stimulus measures that propelled markets in April are still insufficient to ensure recovery," the strategists said. "Optimism from the reopening of economies has also been marred by fears of a second wave of infections and President Trump's China bashing ahead of the US elections in November."
The Japanese yen traded at 106.87 after seeing levels around 106.8 yesterday. The Australian dollar was at $0.6428 after weakening from highs above $0.654 seen earlier in the trading week.
Oil prices were mixed in the morning of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down 0.45% to $29.06 per barrel. U.S. crude futures, on the other hand, added 0.16% to $25.33 per barrel.
— CNBC's Jeff Cox and Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.
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Asia stocks slip; Tencent shares jump after earnings beat expectations - CNBC
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