Asia close: Stocks end lower tracking losses in the US

Stocks across the Asia Pacific region were mostly lower at the end of the week caught as they were by the ongoing correction in the US technology space.

The Nikkei-225 finished the session down by 0.90% to 27,522.26, alongside a 0.91% drop on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's benchmark index to 3,691.48.

Taiwan's Taiex meanwhile gave back 1.75% to finish at 17,899.30 while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 2.27% to 7,175.81.

Mirroring that risk aversion, the US dollar was 0.34% weaker against the Japanese yen.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was the outlier, ending the session little changed and edging up by 0.05% to 24,965.55, thanks to gains for consumer stocks, especially beer makers.

Worth noting, there was some 'market chatter' to be heard regarding Omicron cases in Hong Kong and in other parts of China ahead of the Winter Olympics.

It was against that backdrop that, overnight, the People's Bank of China cut its interest rate for short-term emergency loans by 10 basis points to 2.95%, following on from reductions on its other main policy rates.