Stocks in Asia mostly slip after overnight Dow decline

Shares in Asia mostly declined in Friday morning trade after the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 100 points overnight.

Mainland Chinese shares declined in morning trade, with the Shanghai composite slipping 0.57% and the Shenzhen component declining 0.31%. The Shenzhen composite also declined 0.40%.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index advanced 0.06%

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.62% as shares of index heavyweights Softbank Group and Fanuc declined. The Topix also slipped 0.76%. Shares of Nintendo tumbled around 3% after the company announced what one analyst described as "ultra-conservative guidance" for the current fiscal year.

Over in South Korea, the Kospi declined 0.57%.

Losses were also seen in Australia, where the ASX 200 fell marginally.

"Asian markets may tread water today, awaiting for further cues from US' 1Q GDP print tonight," analysts at OCBC Treasury Research wrote in a morning note.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow dropped 134.97 points to finish at 26,462.08. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fared better, with the former closing marginally lower at 2,926.17. The Nasdaq, meanwhile, added 0.2% to finish its trading day stateside at 8,118.68 and hit an intraday record.

The moves came as the earnings season stateside continues to roll on.

More than 170 S&P 500 companies have reported quarterly results so far, according to FactSet. Of those companies, 78% have posted better-than-expected earnings.

Wall Street ended Wednesday's session lower on the back of mixed corporate results. Earlier this week, the S&P 500 notched an all-time closing high and remains about half a percent below its intraday record.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 98.156 after touching lows around 98.0 yesterday. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7025 following an earlier low of $0.7005.

The Japanese yen traded at 111.70 against the dollar after strengthening from lows around the 112.2 handle in the previous session.

"Trading in JPY has been more influenced by the long Golden Week holiday that begins next week. The yen is stronger ahead of that as traders cut short positions ahead of the holiday," David de Garis, a director and senior economist at National Australia Bank, wrote in a morning note.

Japan is set to begin a 10-day holiday from April 27 to May 6 to celebrate the enthronement of the country's Crown Prince Naruhito.

— CNBC's Fred Imbert contributed to this report.

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