Equities across the Asia-Pacific region were lower on Friday, taking a breather from the recent surge where gains in Australian shares lagged behind other indexes as sharp moves its currency plagued stocks. Though the Aussie dollar retreated slightly against the greenback Friday after hitting a two-year high on Wednesday, it was still up 1.2% this week, driven in part by strong jobs data and a recent surge in the price of iron-ore, one of the country's main commodity exports.

European stocks reversed course and closed lower Thursday as investors weighed the possibility the European Central Bank is moving closer to reducing monetary stimulus for the eurozone economy that has helped pushed equities to record highs. German, French, Spanish and Italian shares flipped down at the same time the euro leapt to its highest in more than a year against the U.S. dollar. Those moves were made on the prospect that the ECB will soon say it's time to start winding down its massive program of bond purchases.

U.S. stocks finished mostly lower on Thursday as Home Depot weighed on the Dow, but the Nasdaq bucked the trend to match its best win streak since February 2015 and closed at a record.