Asian shares were lacklustre in early trade on Friday, despite US stocks closing higher on strong retail sales data.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed up just 0.12% at 20,407.08.
But on Thursday, the benchmark index marked its biggest percentage gain in four months.
“It’s interesting to see that US retail sales are up,” economist Tony Nash told the BBC, “as we’ve seen Asian exports down for the past several months.”
“The real question for Asia is whether the US up-tick is a trend and if that will flow upstream to exports in Asia any time soon,” said Mr Nash, managing partner of Complete Intelligence.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 closed down 0.21% at 5,545.30, while South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index closed down 0.22% at 2,052.17.
South Korean shares ended a four-day losing streak on Thursday after the country’s central bank cut interest rates to a record low, citing a deadly outbreak of Mers as a concern for the economy.
