Major Asian stock markets closed mostly lower Thursday.

Tokyo's Nikkei index lost nearly one and one-half percent to finish at 9,901.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained just over one-tenth of one percent to finish the day's trading at 22,571.

Share prices were higher in Bangkok, but lower in Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Taipei and Wellington. Trading in Manila was virtually unchanged from Wednesday.

In currency trading, the dollar was selling at 77.77 yen, a loss of nearly one-quarter of a yen from Wednesday.

Gold is trading at $1,614.88 an ounce.