Asia stocks drop ahead of US job data

HONG KONG: Asian stock markets were lackluster Friday as investors tread carefully ahead of a U.S. jobs report that could help determine the durability of the U.S. economic recovery.

Most major markets were modestly lower as traders dialed down their investments in equities and commodities in case the employment figures prove worse than expected. Oil and gold prices fell, while the yen strengthened against the dollar.

Friday's monthly unemployment report is likely to give investors more insight into the pace of economic improvement in the world's largest economy. Economist expect the U.S. lost another 130,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 10.2 percent.

Though technically out of recession, the U.S. economy has continued shedding jobs even as stock markets surge and financial companies return to making massive profits and paying huge bonuses. But there's a consensus the U.S. recovery is unsustainable without the creation of broad employment.

If investors are disappointed by Friday's report, the market could succumb to selling as they move to preserve their profits from this year's rally.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 stock average fell 7.56, or 0.1 percent, to 9,970.11 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 313.01, or 1.4 percent, to 22,240.86. Australia's market dropped 1.7 percent, Singapore's benchmark was off 0.5 percent and Taiwan's market shed 0.2 percent.

Bucking the downward trend, Shanghai's market added 0.1 percent.

South Korea's market rose 0.1 percent after the government said the economy, Asia's fourth largest, expanded a revised 3.2 percent in the third quarter. That was a better performance than initially estimated amid stronger growth in manufacturing, exports and services.

Overnight in the U.S., markets were hit with a bout of late selling new signs of weakness in the economy. A worse-than-expected snapshot of the country's service sector showed activity actually contracted last month after expanding in October.

The Dow slid 86.53, or 0.8 percent, to 10,366.15, but is still down only 1 percent from a 14-month closing high on Tuesday. It had been up as much as 55 points early in trading and crossed the flat line 89 times before day's end.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 9.32, or 0.8 percent, to 1,099.92, while the Nasdaq fell 11.89, or 0.5 percent, to 2,173.14.

Wall Street was poised for more losses after U.S. futures lost ground. Dow futures were down 6, or 0.1 percent, at 10,346.

Gold was down $15.60, or 1.3 percent, at $1,202.7 an ounce.

Oil prices slipped in Asia, with benchmark crude for January delivery down 56 cents to $75.90.

The dollar fell to 88.05 yen from 88.25 yen. The euro gained to $1.5056 from $1.5047.