The Asian markets have made mostly a lower start on Friday tailing the sluggishness in the US markets overnight. Traders are eyeing the release of the US Labor Department's closely-watched monthly jobs data later today for further cues. Employment is called higher by 180,000 jobs in April after rising by 98,000 jobs in March. The energy stocks in the region were under pressure after the crude oil futures plummeted overnight on global glut concern. The Chinese equities headed for their longest losing streak this year amid weakness across the region. Bucking the trend Malaysian and Indonesian markets are marginally in green, while Japan and South Korea market are closed for a holiday
Hang Seng slumped by 275.29 points or 1.12% to 24,408.59, Taiwan Weighted declined by 42.42 points or 0.43% to 9,925.22 and Shanghai Composite was lower by 21.27 points or 0.68% to 3,106.10.
On the other hand FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 3.72 points or 0.21% to 1,762.39 and Jakarta Composite was higher by 4.61 points or 0.08% to 5,674.06.