Asia shares mostly lower

Major stocks indexes in Asia were mostly lower on Thursday as US futures pointed to another volatile session for Wall Street after Apple lowered guidance for first quarter and warned of weaker sales in China, reports CNBC.

South Korea's Kospi fell 0.81 per cent to finish its trading day at 1,993.70 as shares of Apple suppliers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix dropped 2.97 per cent and 4.79 per cent, respectively.

Over in the Greater China region, the Hang Seng index gave up earlier gains to slip 0.22 per cent, as of its final hour of trade.

The mainland Chinese markets, watched in relation to Beijing's ongoing tariff fight with Washington, reversed its earlier gains.

The Shanghai composite closed largely flat at about 2,464.36 while the tech-heavy Shenzhen composite fell 0.798 per cent to finish its trading day at around 1,246.37. The Shenzhen component lost 0.837 per cent to close at about 7,089.44.

The ASX 200 in Australia, however, rose 1.36 per cent to close at 5,633.40, with all the sectors seeing gains.

The energy subindex rose 2.97 per cent as shares of oil-related companies saw gains on the back of Wednesday's strong rally in oil prices. Santos jumped 3.98 per cent, Oil Search rose 2.59 per cent and Woodside Petroleum advanced 3.44 per cent.

"Asian markets may attempt to recover some of yesterday's losses but are likely to remain cautious for now and await further cues on the US," said OCBC Treasury Research in a morning note.

In overnight market action US stateside, stocks capped a wild session with fractional gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 18.78 points higher at 23,346.24 and the S&P 500 rose 0.1 per cent to close at 2,510.03. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.46 per cent to 6,665.94.

Earlier during the session, the Dow had plunged almost 400 points while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 shed more than 1.0 per cent.

Futures pointed to further volatility for the US markets at Thursday's open, after Apple warned that its first quarter sales would come in lower than previously expected.

The Invesco QQQ Trust, which tracks the tech heavy Nasdaq-100 Index, lost more than 2.0 per cent in after hours of trading on Wednesday. Apple shares cratered by 7.0 per cent. The S&P 500 ETF Trust, tracking the broader market, lost more than 1.0 per cent in extended trading.