MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan were last up 0.2 percent, recouping earlier losses. The index has managed to hold up so far in November after three straight monthly declines, but is on track for its worst annual performance since 2011.

·         Japan’s Nikkei rose on Thursday in choppy trade with gains for defensive stocks and companies linked to inbound tourism demand after data showed a bounce in visitors in October.

The Nikkei gained 0.7 percent to 21,646.55, yet it barely moved for the week. The broader Topix advanced 0.8 percent to 1,628.96, though trade was thin, with only 1.2 billion shares changing hands, the lowest figure in a month.

Japanese markets will be closed on Friday due to a national holiday, with investors looking to the outcome of Black Friday sales that follow Thursday’s U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday, at a time when wages are rising and consumer confidence is high in the United States.

·         China’s main stock indexes fell on Thursday, extending a lengthy slump tied to the fractious trade war between the world’s two largest economies, and few analysts expect either the dispute or market weakness to end any time soon.

Those pressures weighed on the Shanghai Composite index on Thursday, pulling it down 0.6 percent by midday. The index has tumbled more than 20 percent so far this year.