In China, profit-taking ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays in mid-February, led to a correction, with Shenzhen shares hit the hardest, falling more than 3 percent to 6 1/2-month lows.
"Investors are sensitive to medium and small stocks which do not have strong fundamentals as negative news in the market curbed their risk appetite and offered them an excuse to sell some shares," said Ben Kwong, Chief operating officer at KGI Asia in Hong Kong.