Shares in Japan were choppy on Thursday after official figures showed Japanese firms could be spending less on physical assets.
Core machinery orders, a leading indicator of capital expenditure, fell by 5.7% in August, compared with expectations for a rise of 3.2%.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index was down 0.49% at 18,234.04 points in mid morning trade.
Investors were also taking in fresh official trade numbers from August.
The country's ministry of finance said Japan posted a current account surplus for the 14th month in a row, but that exports were up 3.1% in August from a year earlier, compared to a rise of 7.6% in July.
The official numbers showed the surplus at 1.65tn yen ($13.8bn) against expectations for about 1.23tn yen.
Meanwhile, global investors were also absorbing a warning from the IMF which said "global financial stability is not yet assured".
A senior IMF official said the nature of the danger had changed. Financial stability in advanced economies has improved, but risks had moved towards emerging economies, Jose Vinals explained.
China reopens
As mainland Chinese markets reopened after the Golden Week holidays, the Shanghai Composite benchmark index was up 3.3% 3,153.46 in mid-morning trade.
However, Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng was down 0.66% at 22,366.48 points after marking its highest close since 20 August on Wednesday.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.42% at 5,219.90, with shares in mining giant BHP up 2.97%.
In South Korea, the Kospi index was flat, down 0.09% at 2,003.97.