Elsewhere, Japanese shares were also lower, with the Nikkei Stock Average down 0.69 percent and the Topix off by 0.59 percent.
Japanese electronics company Sharp beat the broader index to trade up 1.86 percent at 328 yen, after the company revised its earnings estimates.
In a filing on Friday, Sharp said it expected operating income for the year ending March 31, 2017, to be 47.4 billion yen, up from its previous forecast of 37.3 billion yen.
Sharp also trimmed its expected losses for the year to 27.1 billion yen, from an earlier forecast of 37.2 billion yen.
Australia’s the benchmark ASX 200 traded down 0.24 percent, with the energy and materials sectors down 0.66 percent and 0.94 percent, respectively. The heavily-weighted financial sector was flat.
Major resources producers Down Under were off by more than 1 percent each. Shares of Rio Tinto fell 1.66 percent, Fortescue was off by 2.84 percent and BHP Billiton declined by 1.93 percent.
In the currency market, the dollar slipped against a basket of currencies to trade at 100.48, down from levels near 101.07 in the previous session.
“The constant rebuff on dollar rallies is a worrying sign that the market may be favoring positioning for a sudden wave of risk aversion,” said Stephen Innes, a senior trader at OANDA, in a note.
“Apparently, political jitters continue to override strong underlying economic sentiment in this current climate,” Innes added.
The yen traded at 113.25 to the dollar, strengthening from levels above 114 earlier in the week. The stronger yen sent most Japanese exporters lower, with Toyota shares down 1.15 percent, Mitsubishi Electric off by 1.26 percent and Sony down 0.96 percent.
Elsewhere, the Australian dollar fetched $0.7691.
The session in Asia followed a slightly lower finish in the U.S. on Thursday.
The Dow Jones industrial average finished near flat at 20,619.77, while the S&P 500 slipped 2.03 points, or 0.09 percent, to end at 2,347.22. The Nasdaq dropped 4.54 points, or 0.08 percent, to close at 5,814.
