A warning from the International Monetary Fund of the rising risk of China's economic growth slowing spurred many investors across the region to sell off their shares, though some bourses scraped through relatively unscathed.

The local market, for one, managed to make a small gain of 9.87 points, or 0.31 per cent, to close at 3,218.2 on Thursday.

Tokyo was another winner, rising 1.32 per cent.

Other markets, however, ended lower. Hong Kong fell 0.12 per cent, Shanghai plunged 1.05 per cent and Seoul dropped 0.64 per cent.

Markets have been volatile since United States Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said in May that the US central bank's bond-buying programme might end by next year, spelling the end of loose liquidity.

Nonetheless, JP Morgan Private Bank's Asian chief investment strategist, Mr Fan Jiang, said he is still bullish on stocks.

"There was an overreaction as investors sold their positions indiscriminately," he wrote in a note on Thursday.