Asian stocks deepened losses and the Japanese yen strengthened against the greenback on Friday as investors dumped riskier assets and fled to safe havens after four police officers were killed and others wounded in the United States.
Markets had already been on edge after a steady stream of negative news this week in the form of rising Brexit uncertainty and a growing crisis in Italian banks. Investment managers sought shelter in the U.S. dollar, Treasuries and gold, signaling a rocky start to the second half of the year.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was down 0.6 percent. For the week, it is set to fall 1 percent, its biggest weekly drop since June. 19.
Japan's Nikkei share average dropped on Friday, dragged down by caution towards the U.S. jobs report due later in the day and as the yen erased earlier losses and firmed.
The Nikkei fell 1.1 percent to 15,106.98. The index lost 3.7 percent for the week, during which concerns about Brexit resurfaced and hurt global equities.
China stocks fell on Friday as lingering anxiety over the Brexit vote and weakness in the yuan added to worries over a fragile domestic economic recovery.
The mainland's blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.6 percent to 3,192.28 points, and the Shanghai Composite Index slid 1.0 percent to 2,988.09, in their biggest intraday of percentage drop since June 24.
While Beijing is expected to offer more stimulus to spur activity, investors remain wary amid a global backdrop of Brexit-driven uncertainty and other external headwinds.
Hong Kong stocks fell on Friday, tracking losses in Shanghai shares, on fears of further weakness in the yuan and worries that Britain's decision to leave the European Union could destabilise one of China's biggest export markets.
The blue-chip Hang Seng Index fell 0.7 percent to 20,564.17 points, while the China Enterprises index lost 0.8 percent to 8,534.79.
Reference: Reuters
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