Asian markets end mostly lower on Thursday

Asian equity markets ended mostly lower on Thursday, with risk sentiment hurt by falling commodity prices and a surging dollar, after the Federal Reserve's April meeting minutes revealed ‘most’ members have a strong bias for raising rates as early as June, based on how the economy evolves. Chinese shares ended flat in thin trading after a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang urged state-owned enterprises to boost their competitiveness. Japanese shares ended little changed on Thursday, moving in and out of positive territory as general caution offset some gains from Federal Reserve minutes that boosted the dollar and weakened the yen. Some investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of Group of Seven meetings to be held this week in Japan.