MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan as well as Tokyo's Nikkei stock index were both down 0.2 percent in early trading.
Asian shares edged down on Thursday after disappointing earnings from technology giant Apple dragged on Wall Street, while the dollar remained shy of this week's nearly nine-month highs.
Expectations for a year-end rate hike by the Federal Reserve remained intact, and bolstered the greenback. In recent weeks, market participants have been pricing in more than a 70 percent chance that the U.S. central bank would hike interest rates in December, according to CME Group's FedWatch program.
