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Hong Kong - Asian markets turned lower on Friday as investors cashed in at the end of a mostly positive week while the dollar weakened against its main peers with analysts questioning the chances of a third US interest rate hike this year.
Global equities tracked broadly higher over the past five days on easing geopolitical tensions and Wall Street notched up several records, while the greenback soared on a hawkish Federal Reserve meeting.
However, dealers headed in to the weekend a little subdued after New York's main indexes fell, while a second downgrade of China's debt rating also added to the negative feeling.
North Korea also lingered in minds after Kim Jong-Un said he will make Donald Trump "pay dearly" for threatening to destroy his country.
While mostly brushed off by investors, the comments revived the stand-off between the US and North Korea earlier in the month after Pyongyang tested a nuclear bomb and ratcheted up tensions in the region.
Hong Kong slipped 0.8% and Shanghai was 0.4% off, while Singapore shed 0.3% and Seoul lost 0.5%.
Tokyo finished the morning session 0.3% lower.
The dollar slid back after recent gains against the yen, pound and euro. The greenback rallied after the Fed on Wednesday announced a timetable to wind up its huge bond-buying stimulus programme and hinted at a third rate hike this year by December.
However, Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at AxiTrader, said: "Traders don't exactly agree the Fed will raise rates as much as they say they will."
He added that there is scepticism that the central bank will be able to lift borrowing costs again this year at the same time as tapering its stimulus, which was put in place during the global financial crisis to keep long-term rates down.
Investors will be keeping an eye on speeches this weekend by top Fed officials hoping they will give some clues about the central bank's thoughts on interest rates.
Also, eyes will be on Vienna, where oil giants inside and outside Opec are due to meet and are are expected to discuss an ongoing production cut, with some market-watchers suggesting it could be extended.
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