Asian markets mainly down; NFP in focus

Asian markets were down on Friday following Wall Street’s mixed dynamic and as Treasury yields continued to rise in the previous session.

The bond market was also carefully watched in Asian hours as the Bank of Japan offered unlimited buying for their long-term Japanese government bonds to curb a recent rise in them.

It has been the first time in nearly half a year the Japanese regulator acted to buy bonds in order to push yields lower. Regarding the 5-to-10-year JGBs, the bank said it will be increasing its purchase volume from a current 410 billion to 450 billion.

The reaction in equity markets (of course) was not a surprise. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was down by more than one percent after a brief upward adjustment in the prior session.

In South Korea, the Kospi fell almost 2 percent, dragged by major technology names such as Samsung Electronics, which eased 3 and a half percent, Samsung SDI down by nearly five percent and SK Hynix plunging 2 and a half percent.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index showed moderate losses in early hours, with most financials components trading in red territory, including HSBC and the Bank of China.

In the United States, the Dow Jones industrial average closed 37.32 points to the upside at 26,186.71. The S&P 500 eased 0.1 percent to end at 2,821.98. The Nasdaq composite dropped 0.4 percent to 7,385.86. Q4 earnings remained on the watch:

+++ Apple +++

Earnings: $3.89 vs. $3.86 per share forecasted

Revenue: $88.3 billion $87.28 billion forecasted

+++ Amazon +++

Revenue: $60.5 billion vs. $59.83 billion forecasted

Earnings Per Share (EPS): $3.75 per share

<<< Asian Stock Indexes at 07:25 GMT >>>

Australia ASX S&P +31.00 +0.50% 6,229.80

Shanghai Composite +15.10 +0.44% 3,462.08

Hong Kong Hang Seng +30.87 +0.09% 32,672.96

Japan Nikkei 225 -211.58 -0.90% 23,274.53

Taiwan TSEC 50 Index -34.02 -0.30% 11,126.23

<<< Next in the United States >>>

Ahead in the day, focus will be at the release of employment data by the US Labor Department as of 13:30 GMT, which includes nonfarm payrolls, the unemployment rate and average hourly earnings. Also, attention will be directed to factory orders and Michigan University’s consumer expectations and sentiment for January at 15:00 GMT.

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