Asian markets trade mostly lower in early deals

06 Dec 2013 Evaluate

Prolonging their subdued trend, most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading lower in early deals on Friday as investors remained on sidelines ahead of the U.S. jobs data due later in the day. Shares across the region seemed to take some heart and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan turned flat after an early dip. Meanwhile, Japanese shares recouped early losses to trade flat, though investors were pensive ahead of jobs data that could make or break the case for an imminent scaling back in US stimulus. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Singapore are trading weak, while Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan are trading modestly higher.

Shanghai Composite declined 13.77 points or 0.61% to 2,233.30, Hang Seng dropped 51.05 points or 0.22% to 23,661.52, Jakarta Composite contracted 27.04 points or 0.64% to 4,189.85, Nikkei 225 slipped 5.13 points or 0.03% to 15,172.36 and Straits Times was down by 9.21 points or 0.29% to 3,115.17.

On the flip side, KLSE Composite rose 0.36 points or 0.02% to 1,825.22, Seoul Composite increased 2.75 points or 0.14% to 1,987.52 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 32.63 points or 0.39% to 8,408.17. 

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