Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in the early deals on Friday following the weak cues overnight from Wall Street after data showed weaker-than-expected US private sector job growth in June. The report from payroll processor ADP came a day ahead of the Labor Department's monthly jobs report due later today. Rising global bond yields amid growing expectations of tighter monetary policy by global central banks also dampened investors’ sentiments. Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei share average dropped to a three-week low after global shares tumbled, but investors wasted no time trimming losses after the Bank Of Japan raised its purchases of government bonds in its market operations. Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan are all lower. Bucking the trend, Indonesia is modestly higher.
Nikkei 225 declined 101.61 points or 0.51% to 19,892.45, Hang Seng decreased 91.42 points or 0.36% to 25,373.80, Straits Times dropped 8.24 points or 0.26% to 3,218.10, Taiwan Weighted slipped 53.1 points or 0.51% to 10,315.10, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dipped 9.17 points or 0.52% to 1,761.36, Shanghai Composite contracted 7.19 points or 0.22% to 3,205.25, and KOSPI Index was down by 6.79 points or 0.28% to 2,381.02.
On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was up by 0.28 points or 0% to 5,849.85.