A cautious, lower open is expected for Japan stocks on Friday, as traders worldwide await action in Washington on the U.S. federal borrowing limit.

Wall Street put in a mixed performance on Thursday as intense negotiations on the budget and deadline deal continued.

Pre-market word that electronics giant Nintendo swung to a loss and issued negative guidance is expected to weigh on the market.

Japan's market moved sharply lower on Thursday. The benchmark Nikkei 225 average dropped 145.84 points or 1.45 percent to close at 9,901.35.

The TOPIX index of First Section trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange declined 10.74 points or 1.25 percent to 848.37.

Trading volume picked up, hitting 1.795 billion shares.

Declining stocks outnumbered advancers 1,288 to 278 with 98 closing unchanged. In U.S. trading on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 62.44 points or 0.51 percent at 12,240.11, the Nasdaq Composite index was up 1.46 or 0.05 percent at 2,766.25 and the S&P 500 index was down 4.22 points or 0.32 percent at 1,300.67.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 29.05 points or 0.13 percent to 22,570.74.

In China, the Shanghai Composite index was down 14.71 points or 0.54 percent at 2,708.78.

The BSE 30/SENSEX index in India was down 222.73 points or 1.21 percent at 18,209.52.

Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index was down 28.28 points or 0.68 percent at 4,145.83.

In South Korea, the KOSPI/Seoul Composite index was down 18.46 points or 0.85 percent at 2,155.85.

The Taiwan Weighted Index was down 50.29 points or 0.57 percent at 8,767.20. Read More