Asian stocks open mostly lower

Asian stocks opened mixed but mostly negative on Thursday, as the Japanese stock indices were mixed while the Chinese stocks, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index and the South Korean Kospi fell, while both the Australian and New Zealand stock indices rose.

Market are parsing President Trump's signing a bill supporting Hong Kong protesters on Wednesday, which was followed by Chinese threat of retaliation, raising investors' concerns about the chances of the interim trade agreement between Washington and Beijing in both sides' efforts to resolve the ongoing trade war between them, which has recently passed its first year.

As for stocks, Japanese stock indices were mixed during today's session, with the Topix index falling by 0.09% or 1.57 points to 1,709.41, while Nikkei 225 index rose by 0.04% or 213.73 points to 23,446.18.

The Chinese stocks fell today, as the CSI 300 index fell by 0.21% or 8.00 points to 3,867.62, and the Shanghai Composite index fell by 0.31% or 8.87 points to 2,894.33.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell by 0.06%, or 15.50 points to 26,938.50, and the South Korean Kospi fell by 0.24%, or 5.01 points to 2,122.84.

To Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index, which rose by 0.20% or 13.50 points to 6,864.10, while New Zealand's NZX 50 rose by 0.90% or 100.36 points to 11,221.17.