Investing.com - Asian stocks were mixed in morning trade on Friday ahead of a closely watched U.S. payroll report.
China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component both slipped 0.1% by 10:03PM ET (02:03 GMT). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.3%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was unchanged. The country’s household spending grew 4.0% in May from a year earlier thanks to Japan's 10-day holiday, government data showed on Friday.
It rose at the fastest pace since May 2015 and was much stronger than the median forecast for a 1.4% increase.
South Korea’s KOSPI inched up 0.1%. Index heavyweight Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (KS:005930) dropped more than 1% after the company said that second-quarter profit likely dropped 56% as compared to a year ago. The company won’t provide net income or break out divisional performance until it discloses final results toward the end of the month.
Down under, Australia’s ASX 200 was up 0.4%.
Traders now await the U.S. non-farm payrolls report that is due later in the day.
On Wednesday, a report from ADP (NASDAQ:ADP) and Moody’s Analytics showed private payrolls rising by 102,000 in June.
Weaker-than-expected figure from the jobs report could raise expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve would cut interest rates at its upcoming monetary policy meeting in July on July 30 and 31.
U.S. markets were closed overnight for a public holiday.