SYDNEY, NSW, Australia - Asian stocks closed out the month and the quarter on a dismal note Friday.

"The 'troubling triad' of rising rates, slowing growth, and strong dollar have all intensified," Timothy Moe, chief Asia-Pacific equity strategist at Goldman Sachs told Reuters news agency Friday.

"We reduce our forecasts further and expect largely flat regional performance over the next two quarters with better returns on a 12-month view."

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 shed 484.84 points, or 1.83 percent to 25,937.21.

The Australian All Ordinaries crumbled 81.90 points or 1.21 percent to 6,678.70.

In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 dropped 134.33 points or 1.20 percent to 11,065.71.

South Korea's Kospi Composite fell 15.44 points, or 0.71 percent, to 2,153.49.

In China, the Shanghai Composite dived 16.81 points or 0.55 percent to 3,024.39.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng, going against the regional trend, advanced 56.96 points or 0.33 percent to 17,222.83.

The U.S. dollar was steam-rolled by the British pound during the Asian trading zone Friday. The pound was fetching 1.1169 by the Sydney close. The euro perked up to 0.9826. The Japanese yen was only a fraction higher at 144.36. The Swiss franc inched up to 0.9765.

The Canadian dollar strengthened to 0.9765. The Australian dollar edged up to 0.6504. The New Zealand dollar increased marginally to 0.5724.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Nasdaq Composite lost 314.13 points or 2.84 percent to 10,737.51.

The Standard and Poor's 500 shed 78.57 points or 2.11 percent to 3,640.47.

The Dow Jones industrials fell 458.13 points or 1.54 percent to 29,225.61.