Asian indexes mostly declined early Thursday, reacting to a lower close on Wall Street. The Nikkei 225 average fell 0.5% to 17,109.44 and the broader Topix index slipped 0.2% to 1,661.47, after wavering between 1,652.14 and 1,667.48 during the session.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.7% at 6,612.30, New Zealand's NZX 50 index dropped 0.6% at 4,303.10, Singapore's Straits Times index rose 0.7% to 3,780.45, Taiwan's Weighted index slipped 0.6% to 9,647.01. South Korea's Kospi declined 0.7% at 1,999.51 as trading resumed after a holiday.
Mainland Chinese stock markets are closed this week for national holidays.

Crude oil for November delivery declined as much as 28 cents to $ 79.66 a barrel from its close at $ 79.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Wednesday. "Oil prices will remain volatile in the foreseeable future, creating problems not only for the global economy but also for several industrial sectors that are heavily reliant on crude and refined products," said analysts at Standard & Poor's Ratings Services. Among the oil-sensitive industries are airlines, chemicals, electrical utilities, and freight transportation.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar was unchanged at 116.69 yen, while the Australian dollar fell 0.1% to $ 0.8837.

On Wall Street, stocks lost ground for a second day ahead of Friday's jobs report, viewed as a crucial indicator to the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision on whether to cut its key interest rates again at the end of the month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 79.26 points.