Asian shares, dollar sag on caution before US payrolls

People look at the exchange rate at a moneychanger displaying a poster of USA dollar bill, Chinese yuan and Malaysian ringgit in Singapore August 24, 2015.

“A very bullish report would of course have a big impact”. The following policy meeting is in December.

Overall, most of the employment data points that were released Friday morning severely disappointed, leading the market once again to doubt the prospects of a 2015 Fed rate hike. “If it’s better than expected, then it’ll be easier to raise interest rates in October”.

Great Wall Motor surged 13 per cent in Hong Kong to a two-month high as carmakers and developers climbed after China cut mortgage requirements and passenger-vehicle tax.

Fang said that the relative strength of the Hong Kong Dollar to the Renminbi influenced this trend and, despite the bearish outlook in the industry, no significant layoffs had been seen.

Casino stocks jumped after data showed a smaller drop in gaming revenues than the previous month. China is shut for a week-long holiday and India is closed for a local holiday. MSCI’s all-country world stock index climbed 1.1 percent and was up 0.8 percent for the week. China’s economic growth held steady at 7 percent in the latest quarter ending in June.

A summer stock market crash and China’s surprise devaluation of its currency in August sent shockwaves through global markets, raising concerns both inside and outside of China about Beijing’s ability to manage its economy.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six rival currencies, was down about 0.1 percent at 96.080.

The immediate effect on the global markets after release of this data was strong and sweeping. The Bank of Japan, which meets next week, would prefer to get a clearer picture on the state of the economy before deciding whether to boost, they said. The European markets were mostly lower and the USA bourses were mixed but little changed – and the Asian markets figure to split the difference. The shakeup included shifting the domiciles of his two main companies from Hong Kong to the Cayman Islands, triggering speculation that he was planning to withdraw from China. South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.5 percent to 1,969.68.

Australian shares were 1.8 per cent higher.

JOBS AHEAD: Economists forecast that employers added 200,000 workers to their payrolls last month.