Stocks in Asia Pacific were little changed in Thursday afternoon trade as a private survey showed China's services sector slumping in April.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 added 0.26% as shares of index heavyweight and conglomerate Softbank Group dropped 2.3% while the Topix index shed 0.45%. South Korea's Kospi advanced 0.27%.
Mainland Chinese stocks were higher by the afternoon, with the Shanghai composite just above the flatline while the Shenzhen composite added 0.312%.
Meanwhile, shares in Australia slipped, with the S&P/ASX 200 down 0.54%.
Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index declined 0.23%.
On the economic data front, China's Caixin/Markit services Purchasing Managers' Index for April showed that the country's services sector slumped for the third straight month, as layoffs hit a record, according to Reuters. It came in at 44.4, an improvement from the 43 reading in March — but still off the 50-level that separates growth from contraction.
China also reported Thursday that its dollar-denominated exports rose but imports fell in April as movement restrictions to curb the coronavirus outbreak were eased.
Data from the General Administration of Customs released on Thursday showed exports rose 3.5% from a year ago while imports fell 14.2% in the same period. Economists polled by Reuters had expected exports to have fallen 15.7% in April from a year earlier while imports were expected to have fallen 11.2% from a year earlier.
Markets in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are closed on Thursday for holidays.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 fell for the first time in three days. The Dow closed 218.45 points lower at 23,664.64 while the S&P 500 slid 0.7% to end its trading day at 2,848.42. The Nasdaq Composite, on the other hand, rose 0.7% to close at 8,854.39.
The moves stateside came as a report from ADP and Moody's Analytics showed private payrolls were cut by 20.2 million last month — the worst print in the data series' history. Still, that was not as bad as a Dow Jones estimate of 22 million job losses.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, last traded 100.154 after crossing the 100 mark earlier.
The Japanese yen traded at 106.15 per dollar after strengthening from levels above 106.5 seen earlier this week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6418 after seeing an earlier low of $0.6375.
Oil prices were mixed in the afternoon of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures rising slightly to $29.74 per barrel. U.S. crude futures slipped 0.25% to $23.93 per barrel.
— CNBC's Fred Imbert and Huileng Tan contributed to this report.
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Asia stocks little changed as data shows China's exports unexpectedly rose in April - CNBC
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