Asian stocks mixed on US job data
A job report highlighted a weak US wage growth.
A job report highlighted a weak US wage growth.
Asian stocks were mostly lower today (January 12th) as sentiment was hampered by last week's US non-farmpayrolls report.
US stocks fell on Friday as the report showed an unexpectedly weak reading on wage growth, although 252,000 new jobs were added in December and the unemployment rate dropped to 5.6 per cent.
The Dow lost a per cent, the Nasdaq was down 0.7 per cent and the S&P 500 fell 0.8 per cent.
Today, sentiment was also hit by plummeting oil prices, which extended their slide due to weakening demand in Europe and Asia. Prices fell by more than $1 (£0.66) a barrel.
Chinese shares plummeted as investors offloaded shares in order to subscribe for new initial public offerings this week.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite index fell 1.71 per cent to 3,229.32, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.45 per cent to 24,026.46, and the benchmark index S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.8 per cent to finish at 5,422.7. Tokyo was closed for a holiday.
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