Asia's leading stock exchanges largely opened Thursday's trading on a negative note.
The composite indexes in Shanghai and Shenzhen had lost 0.5 and 0.6 percent, respectively, by lunchtime.
Dismal tones were also heard from Hong Kong as the Hang Seng index decreased by 0.8 percent.
Against the trend, Tokyo's important Nikkei 225 index rose by 0.1 percent, while the broader Topix index fell by 0.2 percent.
