Asian markets slid in afternoon trading on Friday as reports from Japan and China kept investor confidence down.
China industrial profits fell 4.6 percent in October from last year and 2.0 percent in the first ten months of the year compared with the same period a year earlier.
Japan's core consumer prices fell for the third straight month and household spending slumped in October, keeping policymakers under pressure to take further steps to jump-start growth. Analysts see the decline as predominantly due to the effect of falling energy costs, which the Bank of Japan will examine when deciding whether additional monetary easing is needed to achieve the inflation target.
Japan’s core consumer price index (CPI), which excludes volatile fresh food but includes oil costs, fell 0.1 percent in the year to October, government data showed on Friday, matching a median market forecast.
Other Indices Up
The broad Stoxx Europe 600 index, the German DAX, the French CAC and the London FTSE closed in positive territory overnight, boosted by expectations of further monetary stimulus from the European Central Bank (ECB).
American markets were closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Gold and Platinum prices continued their fall as investors pulled $1 billion from precious metals funds in the week to Nov. 25, the heftiest outflow in 17 weeks, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch's weekly flows report.
Gold is currently trading at $1,072 an ounce, near its lowest level since February 2010; Platinum is close to a seven-year trough at $852 an ounce.