Major Asian stock markets closed lower on Thursday following an overnight slip on Wall Street after the closely-watched 10-year Treasury yield touched its lowest in more than a year.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan dropped 1.61 percent to close at 21,033.76 as index heavyweight Fanuc saw its shares slipping 1.32 percent. The Topix index also fell 1.59 percent.

Mainland Chinese stocks were also lower on the day, as the Shanghai composite fell 0.92 percent to 2,994.94 and the Shenzhen component declined 0.65 percent to 9,546.51. The Shenzhen composite also shed 0.905 percent to 1,639.72.

Over in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was about 0.2 percent higher in its final hour of trading. Hong Kong-listed shares of China Construction Bank declined around 1 percent after the company posted its first quarterly profit drop since 2015.

Chinese telecommunications equipment maker ZTE, on the other hand, saw its Hong Kong-listed stock surge 10.05 percent after the company forecast a jump in its first quarter profit. ZTE, the world's fourth-largest telecommunications equipment maker by market share, was forced to stop most business between April and July last year due to U.S. sanctions.

South Korea's Kospi shed 0.82 percent to close at 2,128.10 as shares of industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics declined 1.1 percent. Australia's , on the other hand, rose 0.65 percent to close at 6,167.10.

The broader MSCI Asia-ex Japan index rose 0.15 percent to 523.86, as of 3:28 p.m. HK/SIN.