Asia-Pacific markets mostly fell Friday, with investors assessing November pay and household spending out from Japan.
Real household spending in Japan fell 0.4% year on year in November, a softer fall compared to the 0.6% decline expected by a news agency poll of economists. The fall was also less than the 1.3% decline seen in October.
The average real income per household stood at 514,409 yen ($3,252.98) in November, up 0.7% from the previous year.
Separately, the People’s Bank of China announced it it would suspend treasury bond purchases temporarily, Reuters reported. This was due to the bonds being in short supply, with the PBOC adding it would resume bond buying depending on supply and demand in the government bond market.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 0.47% after the announcement, after initially posting gains, while mainland China’s CSI 300 was down 0.46%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.02%, leading losses in Asia, with the broad-based Topix seeing a smaller loss of 0.68%. Heavyweight Fast Retailing lost as much as 7.83% despite posting strong first-quarter results.
South Korea’s Kospi was marginally below the flatline, and the small-cap Kosdaq was down 0.82%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 also slipped 0.52%, after being in positive territory earlier in the session.
Overnight in the U.S., markets were closed on Thursday due to the funeral of former president Jimmy Carter, but traders will assess labor data on Friday stateside, with nonfarm payroll numbers for December.
Economists expect the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday morning to report a gain of 155,000 in nonfarm payrolls, a step down from the surprising 227,000 increase in November but about in keeping with the four-month average. The unemployment rate is forecast to hold steady at 4.2%.
-CNBC
