Asian stocks ended mixed on Thursday as investors digested a pair of disappointing reports on the U.S. economy and looked ahead to key non-farm payrolls data on Friday for direction.

The dollar remained under pressure ahead of the European Central Bank's rate decision later in the day and amid bets the Federal Reserve will deliver two quarter-point cuts by year-end, in October and December. Gold was little changed while oil edged up slightly on dollar weakness.

Chinese markets eked out modest gains, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump described Chinese President Xi Jinping as extremely hard to strike a deal with.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite index rose 0.23 percent to 3,384.10 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index jumped 1.07 percent to close at 23,906.97.

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