Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower on Friday as traders looked ahead to the release of a key US jobs report, which is expected to provide a further glimpse into the health of the world’s biggest economy. However, Japan's Nikkei traded higher even as the safe haven yen strengthened. Among the other Asian markets, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, and Malaysia are in negative. However, Japan and Indonesia are trading higher.
Straits Times dipped 10.27 points or 0.33% to 3,077.70, Hang Seng declined 140.97 points or 0.54% to 25,969.34, Taiwan Weighted down 4.71 points or 0.04% to 10,871.20, KOSPI Index dropped 0.65 points or 0.03% to 2,031.26, and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declined 10.50 points or 0.67% to 1,553.62.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 up 35.30 points or 0.17% to 21,377.04, and Jakarta Composite rose by 20.74 points or 0.34% to 6,059.27.
