Asian equity markets ended mostly in green on Friday, except for Chinese and Japanese shares that ended in red, tracking exchange rate fluctuations ahead of the closely-watched US jobs report due later on Friday that Fed officials will factor into future decisions on interest rate policy, with expectations for a gain of 178,000 in December. But a soft reading on Thursday of 153,000 from ADP, the private sector payroll processor, is sowing some doubt. While China's yuan gave up some gains after a two-day surge, the Japanese yen strengthened further against the dollar on expectations of slow pace of rate hikes in the US.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,154.32 | -11.09 | -0.35 |
Hang Seng | 22,503.01 | 46.32 | 0.21 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,347.02 | 21.52 | 0.40 |
KLSE Composite | 1,675.49 | 15.67 | 0.94 |
Nikkei 225 | 19,454.33 | -66.36 | -0.34 |
Straits Times | 2,962.63 | 8.49 | 0.29 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,049.12 | 7.17 | 0.35 |
Taiwan Weighted | 9,372.22 | 14.08 | 0.15 |