Stocks on Wall Street closed mostly unchanged on Friday after a softer-than-expected jobs print as investors in Asia awaited the release of China Caixin services PMI.
Labor market data from the U.S. showed a decline of 33,000 jobs in September, well below the 90,000 increase forecast by economists in a Reuters poll. The weaker-than-expected statistic was attributed to distortion from the impact of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
Despite the softer headline number, average hourly wages rose 0.5 percent last month while unemployment fell to its lowest level in more than 16 years.
Stocks stateside closed narrowly mixed on Friday following the data release. The Dow Jones industrial average finished the session just 0.01 percent, or 1.72 points, below the flat line at 22,773.67 and the S&P 500 edged down 0.11 percent, or 2.74 points, at 2,549.33. The Nasdaq, however, added 0.07 percent, or 4.82 points, to close at 6,590.18.
Meanwhile, the greenback, which originally edged up following the reported increase in wages, slid on news that North Korea was readying a new long-range missile test, Reuters said on Friday, quoting a Russian lawmaker.
The dollar index, which tracks the dollar against a basket of currencies, stood at 93.748 at 6:51 a.m. HK/SIN. Against the Japanese currency, the greenback fetched 112.46 yen.
