The Asian stock indexes were mixed on Thursday. In Japan, the strong yen puts pressure on the stocks, according to MarketWatch.
The composite index MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan increased by 0.6%.
Japan's Nikkei 225 and Topix dropped 1.55%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.49%.
The exchange rate of the US currency fell below 100 yen/$1 in the course of trading.
The increase of the Australian dollar after strong data on the national labor market has also had a negative impact on the Australian stock market.
Unemployment rate in July fell to 5.7% compared with 5.8% in the previous month. At the same time, economists did not expect any change.
In Japan, the share prices of exporters fell: the automakers Toyota Motor Corp (T: 7203) fell 1.8%, Nissan Motor Co. fell 2.6%, and Mazda Motor Co. dropped by 3.9%.
Meanwhile, the news that China's State Council approved the long-planned bond between Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock exchanges, which will provide even greater access to foreign investors in the Chinese stock market with a volume of $ 6.5 trillion, contributed to the rise of local indexes.
China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.19%, and the Hang Seng indicator rose 1.54%.
It was expected that investors in Hong Kong will be able to trade shares of the companies listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and vice versa as early as in the previous year, but the government has preferred to postpone the measure amid the collapse in the Chinese and global stock market.
The State Council did not specify the precise date in their statement, but earlier sources reported that the program cooperation between the two exchanges will be launched in December this year.
The stock exchange operator Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd rose 0.2%.
In addition, due to the good financial results for the last quarter, the shares of the Internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd rose 5.2% and Ping An Insurance (Group) Co., the second largest insurer in Asia, rose 2.5%.