According to RTHK, Sina Finance and Yicai, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 recovered from an early dip to close 128.17 points higher at 65,270.95, up 0.20%, as the index turned positive in the final stretch of trade.

Seoul's KOSPI ended slightly lower, slipping 17.72 points, or 0.25%, to 7,033.92 after failing to hold above the prior session's levels.

Hong Kong stocks retreated broadly, with the Hang Seng Index down 320.49 points, or 1.27%, at 24,954.47 and the Hang Seng Tech Index off 2.04%, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 1.13%. Technology and internet names led the decline: Meituan dropped 3.92% to HK$74.75 and Baidu fell 3.31% to HK$89.15, while Tencent lost 1.94%, Alibaba 2.64% and Xiaomi 1.74%. Application-software developer Zhipu tumbled 10.34% to HK$819.00 after DeepSeek cut pricing on its DS V4 Flash model. Mainland banks bucked the trend, with Minsheng Bank rising more than 3%, while pork producer Muyuan Foods fell over 3%.

Taiwan's TAIEX closed down 242.87 points, or 0.51%, at 46,940.49, with turnover shrinking to NT$714 billion. TSMC eased 0.61% to NT$2,450, giving back gains even after Investing.com reported the chipmaker's August revenue jumped 53% on sustained AI demand.

In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.43%, the Shenzhen Component dropped 0.77% and the ChiNext Index lost 0.49%, while the CSI 300 declined 0.53% to 4,548.39. Banks advanced against the tide, with Ningbo Bank, Bank of Nanjing and Bank of Qingdao each up more than 2%. Turnover across the two mainland exchanges shrank to 1.65 trillion yuan, down 208.5 billion yuan from the previous session, with nearly 4,500 stocks declining.