The logo of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), operated by Japan Exchange Group Inc. (JPX), is shown on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Japan, on Friday, October 2, 2020.
Akio Kon | Bloomberg via Getty Images
Asia-Pacific shares fell on Friday ahead of the monthly US jobs report, which is likely to guide the Federal Reserve’s monetary decision in November.
Payrolls are expected to rise 275,000 in September and unemployment is expected to be steady at 3.7 percent, according to economists polled by Dow Jones.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 1.27% in the last hour of trading and the Hang Seng Tech Index lost 2.96%. The Nikkei 225 in Japan fell 0.71% to 27,116.11 and the Topix index fell 0.82% to 1,906.80. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.8% to 6,762.80.
South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.22% to 2,232.84 while the Kosdaq fell 1.07% to 698.49. The broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.29%. Markets in mainland China remain closed for holidays.
Overnight in the US, major indexes fell: the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 346.93 points, or 1.15%, to 29,926.94. The S&P 500 fell 1.02% to 3,744.52, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.68% to 11,073.31.
“Shares struggled as markets await long-awaited US payrolls data … and as comments from Fed officials maintained a ‘more is needed’ atmosphere,” ANZ Research analysts wrote in a Friday note