On Wednesday, Asian shares declined due to concerns about economic growth after China's services activity slowed down.
Market attention shifted towards the release of the Federal Reserve minutes and the US jobs report later in the week for the rate outlook ahead. The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.6%, and Japan's Nikkei fell 0.3%.
China's blue chips and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slumped 0.6% and 1.3%, respectively. Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's upcoming visit to China did little to improve the broader sentiment amid escalating tensions in the tech space.
In the currency markets, the Australian dollar and Chinese yuan fell on China services PMI data, while moves in the yen were largely muted.
Investors are now looking ahead to the release of the Fed's last policy meeting minutes and the non-farm payrolls report on Friday to gauge whether the Fed would need to hike rates more than once to contain inflation.
