Stocks in major Asian markets were mixed on Thursday as investors continued to watch the yield curve in U.S. Treasurys, which inverted further overnight.

Mainland Chinese shares dipped on the day, with the Shanghai composite slipping 0.1% to about 2,890.92 and the Shenzhen component down 0.17% to 9,398.47. The Shenzhen composite was 0.172% lower at around 1,591.08. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index, on the other hand, was up 0.28% as of its final hour of trading.

The Chinese yuan also briefly weakened to a level not seen in more than 11-and-a-half years.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan close slightly lower at 20,460.93, while the Topix finished its trading day largely flat at 1,490.17. Over in South Korea, the Kospi closed 0.4% lower at 1,933.41. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.1% to end its trading day at 6,507.40.

Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index rose 0.08%.

Investors continued to monitor the yields in U.S. Treasurys. The 30-year bond yield fell to a new record low of 1.907% on Wednesday before seeing a recovery. It was last at 1.9607%.

The closely-watched yield spread between the 10-year Treasury note and 2-year note also widened further on Wednesday, extending losses from the previous session where it touched its lowest level since 2007. The phenomenon, also known as a yield curve inversion, has historically preceded periods of recession.

The yields on the 10-year Treasury note and 2-year note were last at 1.4844% and 1.5119%, respectively.

"I think it's always easy to say it's different this time. The reality is and it's tough to sugarcoat it, when the yield curve inverts, it's usually a very powerful predictor of ... at best a slowdown and usually ... it's a recession," said Omar Slim, senior vice president of fixed income at PineBridge Investments, Singapore.

"The short-end with the 10-year is ... where you see most of the inversion and that's usually because the market is expecting a slowdown," Slim told CNBC's "Street Signs" on Thursday. He added that this was driven by fears of recession both in the U.S. as well as elsewhere globally.

Markets continued to remain on edge as investors await developments on the U.S.-China trade front, with the tariff war between the two economic powerhouses recently escalating and further dampening sentiment and raising concerns over the global economic outlook.