Asian shares mixed after Wall Street falls ahead of key US jobs report

Hong Kong and Asian shares were mixed on Friday after Wall Street retreated from record highs as investors awaited the US jobs report later in the day.

US futures were lower and oil prices were little changed.

This week’s highlight for the markets will be Friday’s US government jobs report, which will show how many people employers hired and fired last month. The number of US workers applying for unemployment benefits rose last week but remains at historically healthy levels, a report said Thursday.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.9% to 39,042.59. The US dollar fell to 149.91 JPY from 150.10 yen.

Chinese shares rose. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 1.4% to 19,831.37 and the Shanghai Composite index rose 1.2% to 3,410.36. Markets are keeping an eye on the outcome of the annual economic policy meeting to be held next week.

Analysts said policymakers may exercise caution as they face President-elect Donald Trump’s moves on tariffs and trade.

South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.6% to 2,422.95. On Friday, the head of South Korea’s ruling party showed support for suspending President Yoon Suk Yeol’s constitutional powers after declaring martial law and then rescinding it earlier this week. Yoon is facing calls to resign, an investigation and possible impeachment.

Thousands of protesters marched in the streets and thousands of autoworkers and other members of the Korean Metal Workers Union, one of the country’s largest labor groups, began a partial strike Thursday in protest against Yoon. The union said its members would begin an indefinite strike from Wednesday if Yoon did not leave office by then.

Elsewhere in Asia, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.6% to 8,424.00.

Bitcoin dropped above $103,000 on Thursday before falling back above $100,000 for the first time after President-elect Donald Trump nominated Paul Atkins, a financier seen as a crypto advocate, to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. Broke up.

According to CoinDesk, Bitcoin was trading at 97,941.86 early Friday.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 slipped 0.2% to 6,075.11, but it is still on track to end one of its best years of the millennium. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% to 44,765.71, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.2% to 19,700.26, from its record a day earlier.

Solid consumer spending is a major reason the US economy has avoided the recession that seemed inevitable after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to crush inflation. But buyers are still struggling with high prices and a slow job market.

Expectations are high that the Fed will cut its key interest rate again when it meets before Christmas. The Fed began lowering its key interest rate in September from a two-decade high, in hopes of further supporting the job market.

Also on Thursday, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.17% from 4.18% late Wednesday. NSA NSA

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