Asian shares mixed ahead of US jobs figures

Asian markets were mixed on Friday in edgy trade ahead of the release of US jobs data while Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke warned the labour market still had a long road to recovery.

Investors were also awaiting the result of long-running talks between Greece and its creditors on cutting its huge debts, while Wall Street gave a mixed lead.

Tokyo slipped 0.51 percent, or 44.89 points, to 8,831.93, Sydney fell 0.39 percent, or 16.6 points, to 4,251.2 and Seoul shed 0.60 percent, or 11.98 points, to 1,972.32.

Hong Kong was flat, edging 17.53 points higher to 20,756.98 while Shanghai reversed earlier losses to end up 0.77 percent, adding 17.85 points to 2,330.41.

Eyes will be on the US Labor Department’s announcement of nonfarm payroll figures after recent figures have shown a healthy number of jobs being created, which has led to hopes of recovery in the world’s number-one economy.

Forecasts say January’s release will show the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.5 percent from December.

On Thursday the department said new claims for unemployment benefits, an indicator of the pace of layoffs, fell last week and continued to trend lower.

However, Bernanke told Congress that he remained concerned about persistently high unemployment, and especially those who have been jobless for long periods, which could make them more unlikely to find work.

More than 40 percent of the 13 million unemployed have been jobless for more than six months, Bernanke said.

“We still have a long way to go before the labour market can be said to be operating normally.”

He added that the economy had picked up but still remains vulnerable to shocks and the eurozone turmoil.

Sireen Harajli, strategist at Credit Agricole, said in a note: “The (US) employment indicators for January point to a weaker gain compared to December.

“A weaker-than-expected payrolls number may signal economic weakness ahead,” Harajli said, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

The Dow was flat while the S&P 500 added 0.11 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.40 percent.

In Greece, officials said they were edging closer to a deal with the country’s creditors to halve its debt, although eurozone chief Jean-claude Juncker said Thursday that the talks were at an “ultra-difficult” stage.

Athens is asking private bondholders to take at least a 50 percent cut on their investments as it tries to slice 100 billion euros off its 350 billion euro debt mountain.

On currency markets the euro fetched $1.3151 and 100.20 yen in European trade, compared with $1.3142 and 100.18 yen in New York late Thursday.

The dollar was at 76.18 yen against 76.23 yen.

Oil prices were up in early Asian trade, with New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, gaining 23 cents to $96.59 a barrel in the afternoon.

Brent North Sea crude for March delivery was up 23 cents to $112.30.

Gold was at $1,759.30 an ounce at 0800 GMT, against $1,747.17 in New York late Thursday. In other markets: -- Taipei rose 0.29 percent, or 22.53 points, to 7,674.99.

HTC rose 1.8 percent to Tw$565.0 while TSMC fell 0.78 percent to Tw$76.2.

-- Manila closed 1.32 percent, or 63.51 points, lower at 4,758.57.

-- Wellington ended flat, dipping 2.41 points to 3,312.23.

Telecom rose 0.9 percent to NZ$2.18, Contact Energy gained 0.21 percent to NZ$4.81 and Fletcher Building slipped 0.31 percent to NZ$6.41.