Market Update
Shares in Asia fell Friday, after weak jobs data in the United States dampened sentiment, with resource stocks falling on weak commodity prices. Indian equities, however, bounced back following nine straight days of losses.
At close, Japan's Nikkei dropped 1.4% while China's Shanghai Composite, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Australia's ASX slipped 0.3% to 0.4%. India's Sensex rose 1.6%.
A stronger yen weighed on Japanese exporters while a broad sell-off in commodities, which have seen a strong rally in the past few months, took a toll on resource stocks.
Even as Thursday's economic data in the United States saw jobless claims reaching highest levels since last summer, investors would now await the more keenly-observed non-farm payrolls data, due Friday, to gather more insights about the state of the world's largest economy.
Stocks on the Move
In Tokyo, automakers Toyota, Honda and Nissan tumbled 2.4% to 4.7% while electronics giants Sony, Canon and Panasonic lost 2% to 2.3%. Trader Mitsui & Co dropped 3%.
In Hong Kong and China, selling in metal stocks weighed on the indexes: Aluminum Corporation of China and Yunnan Tin declined 1.5% and 2.2%, respectively. While PetroChina fell 2.2% on a drop in crude prices.
Aviation stocks bucked the trend, though: Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines jumped 5.8% to 6.6% on expectations falling oil prices would mean lower costs for carriers.
Indian stocks gained after several days of weakness, as investors came back to buy beaten-down equities.
In Sydney, heavyweight miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were off 1.9% each, bogging down the benchmark index.