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The dollar moved narrowly in Asian trade after briefly hitting a near four-month high and then retreating against the yen in New York as the US growth figures were tempered by a guarded Federal Reserve report.
Tokyo's Nikkei gave up early gains to end 0.16% lower after a recent rally helped it to a six-month high.
The index lost 25.46 points to 15 620.77. Sydney added 10.01 points, to close at 5 632.9 and Seoul lost 6.49 to 2 076.12 points.
Shanghai jumped 20.32 points to 2 201.56 and Hong Kong gained 24.64 points to 24 756.85, extending a winning streak to eight straight sessions.
Jakarta was closed for a public holiday.
The Commerce Department said on Wednesday the economy grew 4.0% in April-June, much more than the 3.0% forecast.
It was also a sharp reversal on the 2.1% contraction in the previous three months that was caused by a severe winter.
The news sent the dollar surging in New York to ¥103.09 - its highest level since early April and well up from the ¥102.11 earlier in Tokyo.
However, it retreated to ¥102.81 by the end of trade after the Fed said that, while the economy was strengthening, it was still disappointed in the jobs market and would keep interest rates low for as long as needed.
Traders had been hoping the pick-up in economic activity would push bank chief Janet Yellen to increase rates as soon as this year, rather than late 2015, as previously indicated.
In afternoon Tokyo trade the dollar was changing hands at ¥102.90.
The euro bought $1.3393 and ¥137.82 on Thursday against $1.3395 and ¥137.73.
US jobs data in focus
Despite the healthy data, Wall Street ended mixed. The Dow slipped 0.19% but the Nasdaq added 0.45%, while the S&P 500 was marginally higher.
Traders
were largely unimpressed by a report from payrolls company ADP that
showed the private sector created 218 000 jobs in July.
While it is above the 200 000 level, it is much lower than the 281 000 seen in June.
Eyes are now on the release on Friday of non-farm payrolls, which will give a better handle on the state of the economy.
On oil markets, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for September delivery slipped $1.05 to $99.22 while Brent crude for September was down 64 cents at $105.87 in afternoon trade.
Gold fetched $1 294.50 an ounce by 13:30 compared with $1 299.40 late on Wednesday.
In other markets:
- Bangkok fell 16.40 points to 1502.39. Coal producer Banpu lost 3.88%, or 1.25 baht to 31.00 while Bangkok Bank lost 1.00 baht to 195.00.
- Kuala Lumpur fell 6.98 points, to 1 871.36, with utility
Tenaga Nasional shedding 0.3% to 12.42 ringgit, while palm oil giant Sime
Darby fell 1.5% to 9.50. SapuraKencana Petroleum gained 0.5% to 4.31
ringgit.
- Singapore rose 20.41 points to 3 374.06. DBS Bank gained 0.77% to Sg$18.22 while Singapore Airlines was down 2.55% to Sg$10.33.
- Taipei fell 131.17 points to 9 315.85 as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing shed 2.81% to Tw$121.0, while tech firm HTC was 1.85% lower at Tw$132.5.
- Wellington added 9.44 points to 5 167.99, with Telecom down 2.63% at NZ$2.77. Contact Energy rose 0.18% to NZ$5.52
- Manila ended marginally lower, dipping 2.77 points to 6 864.82. Philippine
Long Distance Telephone dropped 0.65% to 3 050.00 pesos and Universal
Robina retreated 0.31% to 162.50 pesos, while SM Prime Holdings was off
1.67% at 15.32 pesos.
-Mumbai closed down 192.45 points at 25 894.97 points, with IRB Infra up 18.60 rupees at 257.45 rupees and Cadila Health down 46.90 rupees at 1118.55 rupees.
