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.<\/p>\n
The dollar rally paused in Asian trading and bond yields took a breather, helping keep gold prices steady after a significant drop.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Chinese shares ended slightly higher, with the Shanghai Composite Index edging up 0.1 percent to 3,110.48 ahead of a long holiday beginning on Friday.<\/p>\n
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slumped 1.4 percent to 17,373.03 ahead of purchasing managers’ index data from China due over the weekend.<\/p>\n
Trading in China Evergrande Group shares was halted after reports that its chairman had been placed under police watch amid mounting liquidation risk.<\/p>\n
Japanese shares tumbled, as rising Treasury yields on expectations that the Fed could raise rates further weighed on heavyweight technology<\/span> stocks. Speculation around government intervention to deter further yen depreciation also dented sentiment.<\/p>\n The Nikkei 225 Index dove 1.5 percent to 31,872.52, while the broader Topix Index closed 1.4 percent lower at 2,345.51. Tokyo Electron fell 1.2 percent and SoftBank Group lost 1.6 percent.<\/p>\n Toyota Motor declined 0.6 percent despite reporting a rise in global sales in August to a record high, but Mitsubishi Motors soared 4 percent on a Nikkei report that the company will end production in China.<\/p>\n