)
Asian stocks dipped in early trade on Friday following fresh signs of slowing Chinese growth, while crude oil hovered near a four-year low in an oversupplied market.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.25%.
The index has been confined to a narrow range this week as the US economy outperforms the euro zone and China.
China's economy lost further momentum in October, with factory growth dipping and investment growth hitting a near 13-year low.
"As the Federal Reserve policy shifts towards monetary tightening, the kind of risk aversion stemming from emerging markets we saw at the start of the year may take place again," said Junichi Ishikawa, a market analyst at IG Securities in Tokyo.
"The European Central Bank will play a key role in preventing such risk aversion. We may see instability continue in emerging markets until they are convinced that easing from the ECB and Bank of Japan can provide global support."
Tokyo shares outperformed their Asian peers, continuing to draw support from expectations that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will call an election in December and possibly delay a sales tax hike. The Nikkei was up 0.1%, after hitting a fresh seven-year high.
The dollar hit a seven-year high of 116.20 yen on swirling Japanese election speculation.
US retail sales numbers due later in the day are awaited for further impetus.
The focus is on how the US Treasury market would react to the data after slightly softer than expected US jobless claims numbers nudged bond yields lower on Thursday and momentarily capped the greenback.
The euro fetched $1.2465, continuing to inch away from a two-year low of $1.2358 struck last Friday.
US crude oil was up 13 cents at $74.34 a barrel, although the bounce paled in comparison to the 3.9% drop the commodity suffered on Thursday, when it fell to a four-year low of $74.07.
Oil has been hit this week by factors including a stockpile surge at a delivery point for US crude and reluctance by Saudi Arabia to cut output when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meets on Nov 27.
Crude prices have slumped more than 30% since June.
