Asian markets were mostly down on Thursday with traders in Japan booking profits following the Nikkei’s highest close since September 2008 as investors awaited fresh economic leads from China.

Tokyo fell 0.78 per cent by the break and Seoul slipped 0.11 per cent. Hong Kong was down 0.04 per cent and Shanghai slipped 0.14 per cent.

But Sydney bucked the trend, edging up 0.27 per cent.