Asian stock markets are mostly lower on Thursday, tracking the weak cues overnight from Wall Street and as China, the world's second-largest economy, lowered its economic growth forecast for 2015 to about 7 percent.
Investors are also treading cautiously ahead of Thursday's European Central Bank meeting, which will be held in Cyprus. The ECB is expected to provide details on its quantitative easing measures.
The Australian market opened lower, tracking the weak cues overnight from Wall Street. Banks and mining stocks are weak.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is down 17.50 points or 0.30 percent to 5,884.10 after earlier declining to 5,871.70. The All Ordinaries Index is declining 16.8 points or 0.29 percent to 5,854.70.
In the mining sector, BHP Billiton (BHP) is declining 1.7 percent and Rio Tinto (RIO), trading ex-dividend since Wednesday, is losing 1.8 percent.
Meanwhile, Fortescue Metals is gaining more than 2 percent after the company said it is refinancing A$3.2 billion of debt to shore up its balance sheet. Gold miner Newcrest Mining is down 0.7 percent.
Among the major banks, ANZ Banking, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and National Australia Bank are lower in a range of 0.05 to 0.5 percent, amid continuing disappointment over the Australian central bank's decision to put interest rates on hold.
Macquarie Group shares are advancing 1.2 percent after the company completed a capital raising of A$500 million to fund its US$4 billion acquisition of the AWAS aircraft operating lease portfolio.
In the oil space, Woodside Petroleum is adding 0.6 percent, Santos is up 0.4 percent and Oil Search is gaining more than 1 percent.
Woodside Petroleum has received approval from the competition regulator Australian Competition and Consumer Commission or ACCC to buy Apache Corp's Western Australian liquefied natural gas and oil assets under a $3.75 billion deal agreed in December.
On the economic front, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Thursday that Australia posted a merchandise trade deficit of A$980 million in January, representing a deficit increase of A$477 million or 95 percent decline over the previous month.
The headline figure missed forecasts for a shortfall of A$925 million, following the downwardly revised A$503 million deficit in December.
Exports were up A$343 million or 1.0 percent on month to A$27.529 billion, while imports gained A$820 million or 3.0 percent to A$28.509 billion.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics also said that the total value of retail sales in Australia was up a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent on month in January, standing at A$23.880 billion. That was in line with expectations following the 0.2 percent increase in December.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar is lower against the U.S. dollar following weaker than expected Australian GDP data and a resurgence of the U.S. dollar. In early trades, the local unit was trading at US$0.7814, down from US$0.7823 on Wednesday.
The Japanese market pared initial losses and climbed into positive territory, as exporter stocks were propped up by a slightly weaker yen.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is adding 49.11 points or 0.26 percent to 18,752.71, after touching a low of 18,655.36 in early trades.
Among the other major exporters, Sony Corp. (SNE) is adding 0.1 percent, Canon is up 0.2 percent and TDK Corp is gaining 0.7 percent. Meanwhile, Panasonic is lower by 0.4 percent, Sharp Corp. is declining 0.9 percent, Konica Minolta is down 0.08 percent and Toshiba is edging lower by 0.2 percent.
Among machinery stocks, Komatsu is declining 0.6 percent and Hitachi Construction Machinery is down 0.5 percent after China lowered its economic growth forecast for 2015.
In the auto space, Toyota (TM) is declining 0.5 percent and Suzuki is down 2.6 percent while Honda (HMC) is adding 0.2 percent and Nissan is up 0.5 percent.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (MTU) is up 0.5 percent and Mizuho Financial is adding 0.3 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is down 0.1 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Sumitomo Heavy Industries is up 4.5 percent, Inpex Corp is gaining 4.2 percent, Eisai Co. is adding 3.4 percent and Takashimaya Co. is advancing 3.1 percent.
Meanwhile, Olympus is down more than 2 percent, Sumco Corp is declining almost 2 percent, and Toto Ltd is losing 1.8 percent.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand and Taiwan are in negative territory. Meanwhile, South Korea and Indonesia are marginally higher.
On Wall Street, stocks closed lower on Wednesday, extending the pullback that was seen in the previous session. The early weakness on Wall Street was partly due to profit taking. Traders were also reacting to a report from payroll processor ADP showing a notable slowdown in the pace of private sector job growth in the month of February.
The Dow slid 106.47 points or 0.6 percent to 18,096.90, the Nasdaq dipped 12.76 points or 0.3 percent to 4,967.14 and the S&P 500 fell 9.25 points r 0.4 percent to 2,098.53.
Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on Wednesday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both jumped by 1 percent.
U.S. crude oil ended higher on Wednesday, as investors mulled over Saudi Arabia's move to raise selling prices for its oil to consumers in the U.S., Europe and Asia for April, which may indicate an uptick in demand from a Saudi viewpoint.
Crude Oil futures for April delivery, the most actively traded contract, jumped $1.01 or 2.0 percent to settle at $51.53 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Wednesday.
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