Asian shares were mixed on Friday after Wall Street broke a three-day losing streak with benchmarks indices up Tokyo and Singapore but lower in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Sentiment was lifted by US jobs data overnight that showed fewer Americans filing for unemployment benefits, with the number further below 500,000 last week, although jobless rolls swelled in early May.
In Japan, a preliminary purchasing managers index survey showed a weakening in May from the month before. A similar trend was seen in services, which are most affected by precautions ordered recently to counter the country’s worst-ever surge in coronavirus outbreaks.
States of emergency have been declared in Tokyo and some other cities and regions, with more expected to follow.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.78%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was flat. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng slipped 0.4%, while the Kospi in Seoul declined 0.2%. The Shanghai Composite index lost 0.59%.
