Asian shares wallowed at one-month lows on Friday as investors braced for the U.S. April payrolls report after jobless claims data raised doubts over the seemingly rosy employment picture.
European shares are also set to open for lower, with financial spreadbetter IG expecting Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE to fall 0.2 percent and Germany's DAX .GDAXI to start the day down 0.4 percent.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.9 percent, set for a weekly decline of 3.2 percent, the biggest drop in 12 weeks.
Japan's Nikkei .N225, which resumed trading after being closed for holidays since Tuesday, pared earlier losses to close down 0.25 percent, as the yen's strength renewed concerns about corporate profits.
China's Shanghai Composite index .SSEC was down 1.6 percent, erasing most gains for the week.
Hong Kong shares .HSI retreated 1.2 percent, bringing their weekly loss to 4.1 percent.
Wall Street shares were mixed on Thursday, with the S&P 500 index's .SPX slight 0.02 percent drop nevertheless sending it to a three-week low.
"Recent global economic data and some corporate earnings from major Western firms have been lackluster, leading to risk-off trading in markets," said Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management.
Economists polled by Reuters forecast Friday's payrolls data will show U.S. employers added 202,000 workers in April following a 215,000 increase in March, with the jobless rate holding at 5.0 percent.
But job-related data published over the past couple of days has been softer than market expectations, casting a shadow on expectations of solid job growth.
Reference: Reuters
Read More: http://www.reuters.com/
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