Asian stock markets settled lower on Thursday, as market volumes began to thin out in the run-up to the Christmas holidays, while trading was range-bound with many investors sitting on the sidelines.

Japan's benchmark index, Nikkei 225 lost 16.82 points or 0.09 percent to settle at 19,427.67. Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 173.60 points or 0.8 percent to end at 21,636.20. Singapore's Straits Times fell 19.66 points or 0.68 percent to end at 2,882.04.

South Korea's KOSPI fell 2.23 points or 0.11 percent to end at 2,035.73. Taiwan's TAIEX fell 85.51 points or 0.93 percent to end at 9,118.75.

On the other hand, China's benchmark index, Shanghai Composite rose 2.13 points or 0.07 percent to close at 3,139.56.