Investors have been caught out by a set of weak U.S. data this week, including surveys on services and manufacturing sectors, deepening fears the Sino-U.S. trade war is starting to hurt growth in the world’s biggest economy.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.4%. Japan's Nikkei stock index .N225 rose 0.22%, and Australian shares rose 0.54%.
U.S. stock futures ESc1 tacked on 0.1% on Friday, following a 0.80% increase in the S&P 500 on Wall Street overnight on hopes that future Fed rate cuts will support corporate profits.
· Japanese shares edged up on Friday after a sharp fall the previous day and ahead of key U.S. job data, but financials came under pressure as a soft U.S. service sector survey fanned growth worries and pulled Treasury yields lower.
The benchmark Nikkei average rebounded 0.3% to 21,410.20 points, after shedding 2% the previous day.
But it posted the biggest weekly loss in two months, down 2.1%.
The broader Topix added 0.3% to 1,572.90 but ended down 2% on the week.
The early moves come after gains on Wall Street in the previous session, with Asian stocks also edging higher overnight
Market sentiment appeared to be cautious ahead of U.S. payrolls data on Friday. It comes after a frail performance for world stocks in recent weeks, with investors gripped by political uncertainty in the U.S. and Hong Kong, geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, Brexit tensions and a flurry of weaker-than-anticipated economic data.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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