Hong Kong: Asian markets fell on Friday in edgy trade ahead of the release of US jobs data while Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke warned the labour market still had a long road to recovery.
Investors were also awaiting the result of long-running talks between Greece and its creditors on cutting its huge debts, while Wall Street provided a mixed lead.
Tokyo slipped 0.12%, Hong Kong gave up 0.21%, Sydney was 0.28% off, Seoul shed 0.61% and Shanghai fell 0.26%.
Eyes will be on the US Labor Department’s announcement of non-farm payroll figures after recent figures have shown a healthy number of jobs being created, which has led to hopes of recovery in the world’s number one economy.
Forecasts say January’s release will show the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.5% from December.
On Thursday the department said new claims for unemployment benefits, an indicator of the pace of layoffs, fell last week and continued to trend lower.
However, Bernanke told Congress that he remained concerned about persistently high unemployment, and especially those who have been jobless for long periods, which could make them more unlikely to find work.
More than 40% of the 13 million unemployed have been jobless for more than six months, Bernanke said.
“We still have a long way to go before the labour market can be said to be operating normally.”
He added that the economy had picked up but still remains vulnerable to shocks and the eurozone turmoil.
Sireen Harajli, strategist at Credit Agricole, said in a note: “The (US) employment indicators for January point to a weaker gain compared to December.
“A weaker than expected payrolls number may signal economic weakness ahead,” Harajli said, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
The Dow was flat while the S&P 500 added 0.11% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.40%.
In Greece, officials said they were edging closer to a deal with the country’s creditors to halve its debt, although eurozone chief Jean-Claude Juncker said Thursday that the talks were at an “ultra-difficult” stage.
Athens is asking private bondholders to take at least a 50% cut on their investments as it tries to slice €100 billion off its €350 billion debt mountain.
On currency markets the euro fetched $1.3138 and ¥100.08 in early trade, compared with $1.3142 and ¥100.18 in New York late Thursday.
The dollar was at ¥76.17 against ¥76.23.
Oil prices were up in early Asian trade, with New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for March delivery, gaining five cents to $96.41 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for delivery in March adding 47 cents to $112.54.