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(Sharecast News) - Asian shares were mixed on Thursday after geopolitical events dampened the recent rally on Wall Street.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 dropped 1.59% to 51,136 and South Korea's Kospi fell 0.03% to 4,552.37.
Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng lost 1.25% to 26,128.49, while the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.07% to 4,082.98.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.29% to 8,720.90 after gains in banking, healthcare, and tech stocks offset losses in miners.
The Australian dollar depreciated below $0.672 as investors mulled the chances of a February interest rate hike, while weaker-than-expected trade data also weighed on sentiment.
Australia's goods trade surplus narrowed to AUD $2.94bn in November, the smallest in three months and falling short of forecasts of AUD $4.9bn. The decline was led by a 2.9% drop in exports on the back of weak metal ores and minerals shipments, while imports rose 0.2% to a record high.
US stocks pulled back on Wednesday after three days of solid gains sent the Dow and S&P 500 to new heights, with investors showing caution as geopolitical tensions ramped up after the US seized two oil tankers allegedly used to help break sanctions against Venezuela and economic data mostly missed estimates.
Aside from geopolitics, the release of the ADP employment report for December was garnering some attention after showing the private employers added just 41,000 jobs in December, up from a revised 29,000 reduction in November but short of the 47,000 expected.
US factory orders fell by 1.3% in October, following a 0.2% increase the previous month, coming in worse than the 1.2% decline predicted by economists.
Fresh comments from US President Donald Trump that the government could stop large investors from buying single-family homes and also a crack down on executive compensation and shareholder payouts at military defence contractors also weighed on sentiment.
Trump said on his social media network Wednesday that he would move to block large institutional investors from buying single-family homes - in an attempt to address the country's housing affordability issue.
Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com