Current Market Update

Tokyo (Nikkei Average) down 0.1% 
Hong Kong (Hang Seng Index) up 0.7%(at break) 
Shanghai (Shanghai Composite Index) down 0.6% (at break) 
Sydney (S&P/ASX 200) down 0.8% 
Seoul (Kospi) flat 
Mumbai (Sensex) up 0.2% 
Taipei (Taiex) down 0.1%

Asian Market Update

Asian shares edged higher in early trade on Friday, while the dollar marked time ahead of the key US jobs report later in the session that could help it retake ground lost to the euro overnight.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up about 0.1 per cent, but on track for a weekly loss of 0.7 per cent. Japan's Nikkei stock average slipped 0.4 per cent, but was on track for a weekly gain of around 2 per cent.

Major Wall Street indexes inched down on Thursday, but the Dow Jones industrial average briefly rose to set a record intraday high.

The US nonfarm payrolls report is expected to show that employers added 230,000 new jobs last month, and the unemployment rate is seen remaining unchanged at 5.8 per cent, according to analysts polled by Reuters. The figures are scheduled for release at 1330 GMT. "The US dollar has struggled to rally even on good US data recently so this could be the case again. Yet the multi-day/week outlook for USD remains positive," Sean Callow, a currency strategist at Westpac, said in a note.

SGX Singapore Opening Market Update

SINGAPORE shares opened lower on Friday with the Straits Times Index losing 2.49 points to 3,302.33.

Volume was 44 million shares worth S$67.9 million.

Gainers numbered 58 while losers numbered 53.