20.02.201803:24:00UTC+00Asian Shares Edge Down as Dollar Strengthens

Majority of Asian shares traded lower after a relatively subdued overnight session due to U.S. markets being closed for the President's Day holiday.

Japan's Nikkei trimmed 0.93 percent as financials, manufacturing and energy-linked stocks traded in red territory, while tech stocks traded mixed.

Carmakers were mostly lower, with Toyota falling 0.87 percent. Mitsubishi Motors advanced by 0.36 percent in the afternoon, outperforming its peers. The move comes after a Nikkie report that Mitsubishi Corporation was looking into hiking its stake in Mitsubishi Motors to around 20 percent via a tender offer. Mitsubishi Corporation, which edged down 1.75 percent, said it had yet to finalize a decision.

In South Korea, Kospi declined 0.83 percent, with losses observed in heavyweight tech stocks. Samsung electronics and SK Hynix fell 1.86 percent and 1.05 percent respectively.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell by 0.09 percent as the 1.65 percent increase in the information technology sector was countered by declines observed in other sectors. The financials sub-index declined by 0.21 percent and the materials sub-index fell by 0.57 percent.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index recovered from earlier losses to rise by 0.12 percent as markets resumed trading following a long Lunar New Year weekend.