Asian shares set to slip as coronavirus concerns weigh

The U.S. dollar attracted safehaven inflows, rising 0.34% against a basket of currencies.

On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.39%, to 25,706.09 and the S&P 500 dropped 0.56%, to 3,152.05.

"Weakness in financial stocks, with the bank sub-index down 2.5%, comes ahead of next week's Q2 reporting season that sees JP Morgan, Citigroup and Wells Fargo all report next Tuesday and following news that Wells Fargo is planning to cut 'thousands' of jobs starting later this year," said Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank.

Technology stocks rose, lifting the Nasdaq Composite up 0.53%, to 10,547.75, for its fifth record closing high in six days.

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Mainland China shares rallied for an eighth day on Thursday, fueled by retail investor enthusiasm and policy support, even as regulators cracked down on margin financing and as state media warned of market risks.

The rise in China's mainland equities has some similarities to the bubble there five years ago, but it is not yet close in scale, and prices could continue to inflate for some time, said Capital Economics economist Oliver Jones.

"That said, another boom-bust cycle in China's equities could have even greater knock-on effects for markets elsewhere than before, with foreign holdings far higher now than five years ago," he said.

Fueled by illegal margin lending, the 2015-16 market bubble saw the benchmark Shanghai index fall more than 40% from its peak in just a few weeks.