Asian stocks came under pressure on Thursday as investors flooded into safe haven plays as the administration of President Donald Trump moves on fronts as diverse as Iran, global trade, immigration and the Supreme Court less than two weeks after taking office. While markets initially responded positively to a Trump presidency in hopes of pro-growth policies like tax cuts, several of his executive orders, such as the indefinite travel ban on visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries, have raised concerns. "The travel ban has seen uncertainty creep in around whether the new administration knows what it is doing and how isolationist Trump is prepared to the take the U.S.," said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy and chief economist at AMP Capital, in a report. , usually a safe-haven play, gained 0.58 percent to $1,216.22 per ounce. Safe-haven currencies were also getting a leg up, with yen strengthening to 112.58 against the greenback, and the Kiwi rising to $0.7300, compared to levels around $0.72 seen earlier. The Australian dollar jumped 0.59 percent to trade at $0.7643 by 1:40 p.m. HK/SIN.

"These last few days have seen safe-haven buying. Investors have flipped out of equities and into currencies such as Yen and New Zealand dollar. Gold has been the obvious beneficiary as well rallying some $30 an ounce from its lows last week," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA, in a Thursday note. Halley added that the market had turned into a "short-term headline driven beast."

Down Under, the ASX 200 closed down 0.14 percent or 7.8 points at 5,645.4. Losses were capped by a stronger performance in the gold sub-index, which was up 2.04 percent. Australian data showed a record seasonally-adjusted trade surplus of A$3.5 billion ($2.67 billion) in December, versus analysts expectations of a A$2.2 billion surplus. Exports in December rose by 5 percent due to higher iron ore and coal prices, while imports rose by 1 percent from the previous month. The stronger-than-expected trade figures also gave the Australian dollar a boost above the $0.76 handle. As well, reports surfaced of tension between the American president and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in a phone call at the weekend, where Trump criticized a Australian-U.S. refugee deal brokered by the Obama administration and told Turnbull that he had conversed with other political leaders earlier, but "this was the worst call by far." Japan's lost 1.22 percent or 233.5 points to close down 18,914.58 as the investors bought into the yen, in turn strengthening the currency against the dollar. A stronger yen is generally seen as a negative for Japanese stocks.

Japanese policymakers rejected Trump's charges of currency manipulation on Wednesday. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe defended the Bank of Japan's huge stimulus program and said it was to reflate the economy, and was not currency manipulation. South Korea's Kospi which was wavering for most of the Asian session, closed down 0.46 percent or 9.47 points at 2,071 after data showed that consumer prices rose 2 percent in January on the back of higher oil prices, beating a Reuters forecast of 0.4 percent. But the East Asian country's political uncertainty continues to weigh on the market, after former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon dropped out of the running to become the South Korean president. Hong Kong's was down 0.65 percent by afternoon trading. Markets in China are closed and will reopen on Friday after a week-long Lunar New Year break.