HONG KONG: Asian markets tracked Wall Street lower on Friday on renewed uncertainty among investors over when the Federal Reserve will begin cutting back its huge stimulus programme.

Tokyo shares ended down 0.75 percent, or 174.59 points, at 13,578.35, mirroring overnight falls in the United States that were stoked by disappointing corporate earnings results and better than expected unemployment data.

Seoul also finished down 0.2 percent, or 3.8 points, at 1,920.11, while Sydney closed down 0.75 percent, or 38.5 points, at 5,113.9.

Chinese markets experienced a turbulent and confusing morning of trade, with the Shanghai stock exchange swinging from early losses to a rise of as much as a 5.6 percent in a matter of minutes.

It closed at 3.2 percent higher at the break before settling around 0.10 percent up by mid-afternoon.

Hong Kong saw a more modest rise of 0.54 percent at the break which was cut down to a 0.25 percent loss during afternoon trade.

Analysts expressed confusion over sudden spike.

"We're not sure why the market had such a violent movement in just one to two minutes. It could be expectations that the securities regulator may announce some ... supportive measures at its briefing this afternoon," Wu Bangdong, an analyst with Changjiang Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.

Across the rest of Asia, markets were broadly reacting to events on Wall Street.

Weekly US jobless claims declined to their lowest level in six years, data showed Thursday, triggering stock sell-offs as investors saw the figures as a sign the Fed could begin to reduce its $85 billion a month quantitative easing programme as soon as September.

On Thursday the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.47 percent while the tech-rich Nasdaq lost 1.72 percent.

"The jobs data was a shock to the market, and put the whole tapering issue back on the front burner again," said Hiroichi Nishi, SMBC Nikko Securities general manager of equities.

"In these thinly traded markets, the initial sell-off is likely to be sharp before things stabilise," Nishi told the Dow Jones Newswires.

US shares suffered as Cisco and Walmart spotlighted a weak economic outlook in their earnings reports.

Shares in information technology giant Cisco lost 7.2 percent after it reported a "softening" outlook in emerging economies and announced it would cut 4,000 jobs.

Walmart released disappointing earnings and slashed its 2013 forecast, citing weak consumer spending in the US and foreign markets.

India's stock market also took a beating, falling by 2.50 percent, as the rupee plunged to a new record low of 62.00 against the dollar.

Elsewhere in afternoon forex trade, the dollar stood at 97.61 yen, up from 97.36 in New York Thursday.

The euro was at $1.3327 and 130.11 yen, nearly up from $1.3346 and 129.96.

In oil markets New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in September, was up 19 cents at $107.52 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for October delivery was up 2 cents at $109.67.

Gold was down at $1,361.30 at 0700 GMT from 1,365.00 late Thursday.

In other markets:
— Wellington, fell 0.36 percent, or 16.39 points, to 4,513.88.
Contact Energy was down 1.14 percent at NZ$5.20, Trade Me off 0.21 percent at NZ$4.81 and Air New Zealand remained steady on NZ$1.37.

— Taiwan rose 0.48 percent, or 37.74 points, to 7,925.0.
Hon Hai rose 0.76 percent to Tw$79.1 while TSMC was 0.52 percent higher at Tw$96.5. -- AFP