Japanese markets recovered from an early slide to end on a positive note. The yen steadied around 156.05 per dollar after slipping overnight as a magnitude-7.6 quake struck off Japan's northeast coast.

The Nikkei average edged up by 0.14 percent to 50,655.10 while the broader Topix index finished little changed at 3,384.92 ahead of the Bank of Japan's policy decision next week.

Tech shares such as SoftBank Group, Advantest and Tokyo Electron closed higher after Nvidia Corp. was granted permission by U.S. President Donald Trump to ship its H200 artificial intelligence chip to China in exchange for a 25 percent cut of the sales. Chip-making tool manufacturer Disco Corp surged 4.7 percent.

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