Japan's Nikkei closed Friday back above 9500, after opening slightly lower. But other Asian markets fell in response to a sharp tech selloff on Wall Street Thursday, stemming from Nokia's disappointing results.

The Nikkei 225 average ended 0.3 percent higher at 9527.73, after tumbling almost 2.5 percent Thursday to end below 9500. The broader Topix index put on 0.38 percent to 933.10.

South Korea, coming back from Thursday's holiday, fell the hardest in the region, losing 2.4 percent. Singapore was down about 0.30 percent and Hong Kong finished about half a percent lower.

Taiwan fell a more modest 0.23 percent and Australia slipped 0.14 percent. New Zealand closed 0.26 percent higher.

In Tokyo, Sony, Canon and some other blue-chip Japanese techs were down again, but the falls were muted compared to Thursday's losses.

Sony closed down 1 percent to 3780 yen and Canon ended about half a percent lower. Fujitsu finished 1.5 percent weaker at 530 yen and Toshiba lost 1.1 percent. But there were small gains for Kyocera, while Hitachi and NEC were unchanged.

A disappointing earnings result from European mobile phone giant Nokia helped push the Nasdaq to its biggest percentage loss in two months on Thursday. (Full story)

It fell 2.86 percent to 1698.02, while the Dow Jones industrial average fell about half a percent. (Full story)

Japanese automakers picked up some of the ground they lost Thursday. Honda, the No. 2 maker, put on 1.3 percent and Nissan ended 2.5 percent higher at 1163 yen. Market leader Toyota rose 0.3 percent to 3110 yen.

Mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo, the market's biggest stock, finished up 1.1 percent to 275,000 yen.

Big banks were mixed, with UFJ up 0.9 percent, but falls of 3.8 percent for Mizuho and 0.7 percent for MTFG.

In Seoul, the Kospi ended 2.39 percent lower at 699.35, its first close below 700 since July 4.

Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics was down about 3.3 percent to 404,000 won. Samsung on Wednesday reported second-quarter profit fell 41 percent. (Full story)

SK Telecom lost 3.5 percent to 208,500 won and leading bank Shinhan also gave ground, off 4.3 percent to 14,250 won.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 ended 0.14 percent lower at 3083.6. Telstra, National Australia Bank and Qantas all posted small losses, while BHP Billiton rose 0.65 percent to A$9.35 and News Corp finished 0.17 percent ahead to A$11.75.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index ended down 0.44 percent to 10,140.84.

The big mover was telco PCCW, which resumed trading Friday after raising $400 million in a surprise share offer that diluted existing stock by about 13 percent. PCCW lost 10.3 percent to HK$4.35. (Full story)

China Mobile put on 0.24 percent to HK$21.00.

Singapore's Straits Times index ended the week 0.31 percent lower at 1580.96. Shares in Chartered Semiconductor reversed an early fall to end 2.72 percent higher, at S$1.13.

The big banks fared poorly. United Overseas Bank dipped 1.45 percent, OCBC Bank lost 0.92 percent while DBS Group closed steady at S$11.90.

In Taiwan, the Taiex moved in and out of the black Friday, after hitting a 12-month high earlier in the week. It closed 0.23 percent lower at 5287.38.

Market heavyweight TSMC was unchanged at T$58.00 and UMC fell 1.2 percent to T$24.40.

Chunghwa Telecom closed up 3 percent to T$51.50 after raising $1.37 billion in a U.S. share offer. (Full story)

New Zealand's Top 50 put on 0.26 percent to 2110.36. Telecom NZ was 1 percent higher to NZ$5.05.