Asian Shares Mostly Lower On China Woes

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks ended mostly lower on Thursday as investors remained concerned about further interest rates hikes in the U.S.

China's property woes and uncertainty before a key U.S. inflation reading due on Friday also kept investors on tenterhooks.

The dollar rally paused in Asian trade and bond yields took a breather, helping keep gold prices steady after a significant drop.

Oil prices continued to climb, with U.S. crude oil futures rising to their highest in more than a year after data showed a surprise drop in crude inventories.

Chinese shares ended slightly higher, with the Shanghai Composite index edging up 0.10 percent to 3,110.48 ahead of a long holiday beginning on Friday.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.36 percent to 17,373.03 ahead of purchasing managers' index data from China, due over the weekend.

Trading in China Evergrande Group shares was halted after reports that its chairman had been placed under police watch amid mounting liquidation risk.

Japanese shares tumbled, as rising Treasury yields on expectations that the Fed could raise rates further weighed on heavyweight technology stocks.

Speculation around government intervention to deter further yen depreciation also dented sentiment.

The Nikkei average slumped 1.54 percent to 31,872.52 while the broader Topix index closed 1.43 percent lower at 2,345.51. Tokyo Electron fell 1.2 percent and SoftBank Group lost 1.6 percent.

Toyota Motor declined 0.6 percent despite reporting a rise in global sales in August to a record high.

Mitsubishi Motors soared 4 percent on a Nikkei report that the company will end production in China.

The South Korean market was closed for a holiday. Australian markets ended marginally lower after a choppy session.

Consumer stocks fell broadly after August retail sales figures missed estimates. Gold miners Newcrest and Northern Star Resources plunged 5 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively as bullion prices hovered near six-month low.

Washington H Soul Pattinson and Co gave up 6 percent after reallocating about A$1 billion in capital away from equity markets.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index ended 1.23 percent lower at 11,178.03.