Asian stocks fell for the third time in four days on Friday as metals prices declined and concern that a US unemployment report later Friday will hurt investors’ confidence in a global recovery. Futures on the S&P500 Index lost 0.1% after the gauge slipped 0.6% on Thursday amid predictions that US labour figures due Friday will show unemployment rose to 9.6%, the highest level since 1983.
Asian markets (Fri)
04:20 BST
Nikkei down 104.54 (-1.01%) at 10,283.55
Topix down 11.42 (-1.19%) at 946.09
Hang Seng down 241.01 (-1.15%) at 20,658.20
US markets (Thurs)
S&P500 down 5.64 (-0.56%) at 997.08
DJIA down 24.71 (-0.27%) at 9,256.26
Nasdaq down 19.89 (-1.00%) at 1,973.15
European markets (Thurs)
Eurofirst 300 up 4.02 (0.43%) at 938.49
FTSE100 43.40 (0.93%) at 4,690.53
Currencies
04:00 BST
€/$ 1.4361 (1.4409)
$/¥ 95.44 (95.02)
£/$ 1.6789 (1.7004)
Commodities (continuous)
04:05 BST
Brent Crude (ICE) down $0.15 at $74.68
Light Crude (Nymex) down $0.26 at $71.68
100 Oz Gold (Comex) up $0.70 at $962.20
Copper (Comex) down $2.65 at $272.55
10-year government bond yields (%)
04:12 BST
US 3.76 (3.74)
UK 3.74 (3.82)
Germany 3.35 (3.35)
Japan 1.45 (1.43)
Sources: FT, Bloomberg