Asian equities were subdued on Friday and the dollar wobbled ahead of the closely watched U.S. jobs report, which could provide clues on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy outlook. Shanghai shares crept up 0.1 percent, South Korea’s KOSPI shed 0.1 percent and Australian shares lost 0.7 percent. Japan’s Nikkei underperformed, dropping 1.2 percent and headed for its fourth straight day of losses. “The biggest concern for the Japanese market now is whether the dollar will weaken against the yen further,” said Yutaka Miura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo. “You don’t know how U.S. stocks will perform after the jobs data release, so most investors are nervous.” Hong Kong’s Hang Seng bucked the trend and rose 1 percent, while other gainers included Malaysian and Singapore shares. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan crept up 0.1 percent. The index was still on track to end the week a shade lower. U.S. stocks eked out a second straight day of gains on Thursday as a weaker dollar helped materials shares by lifting commodity prices, though disappointing forecasts from retailers and anxiety ahead of Friday’s non-farm jobs report limited the advance. The Dow rose 0.5 percent and the S&P 500 gained 0.2 percent. The dollar remained firmly on the back foot after being hit this week by lacklustre economic data and dovish comments from some Fed officials that curtailed expectations of a near-term U.S. interest rate hike. The dollar stood little changed at 116.91 yen after sinking 1…
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