Asia markets opened lower on the final trading day of the week, following losses in US stocks overnight as telecoms led declines amid the latest batch of earnings.

The Australian ASX 200 was down 0.64 percent, led by steep declines in the energy, materials and financials subindexes. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 halted its three-day advances to trade down 0.28 percent. Across the Korean Strait, the Kospi was down 0.38 percent.

Analysts reckoned there might be some profit-taking at play in the markets today. Evan Lucas, a market strategist at IG, said ASX market internals "show glaring profits, and possible buyer exhaustion," with 84 percent of ASX 200 companies above their 50-day moving average.

Early trade declines in Asia followed a lower finish stateside, where the Dow Jones industrial average closed down 0.63 percent, the S&P 500 down 0.52 percent and the Nasdaq composite off by 0.05 percent.

Major indexes reacted negatively to earnings from United, Travelers and Verizon - the latter closed 3.3 percent lower as one of the greatest contributors to declines in the Dow.

Oil prices advanced in Asian hours, following a drop overnight on renewed concerns of oversupply.

Global benchmark Brent futures were up 0.99 percent at USD 44.97 a barrel as of 8:15 a.m. HK/SIN, after dropping 2.8 percent during US hours. US crude futures were up 0.97 percent at USD 43.60, after dropping 2.26 percent overnight.

The decline in oil overnight came as Reuters reported market intelligence firm Genscape suggested a build-up of more than 840,000 barrels in U.S. crude at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery point in the four days to April 19.

In the currency market, the dollar held on to the 94 handle against a basket of currencies, with the dollar index at 94.583 as of 8:25 a.m. HK/SIN.

The Japanese yen remained at the 109 handle to the dollar, with the pair trading at 109.37, following an overnight finish at 109.44. Major Japanese exporters were mixed, with shares of Toyota up 0.1 percent, Nissan down 0.14 percent and Honda shedding 0.22 percent. Usually a relatively weaker yen is a positive for exporters as it increases their overseas profits when converted into local currency.

Shares of Mitsubishi Motors were down 14 percent, following a 20 percent drop on Thursday after the company's executives admitted the company cheated on fuel economy tests.

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First Published:Apr 22, 2016 7:41 AM IST