Asian stocks mixed in listless trading

Asian stocks were mixed in listless trading Wednesday ahead of key jobs data later this week in the US that could lead to higher interest rates.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.8 per cent to 16,857.07 in morning trading. South Korea's Kospi lost 0.3 percent to 2,033.35. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up nearly 0.1 percent to 23,033.97.

The Shanghai Composite slipped 0.1 percent to 3,071.32.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 48.69 points, or 0.3 percent, to 18,454.30, amid extremely light trading. The S&P 500 index fell 4.26 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,176.12 and the Nasdaq composite fell 9.34 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,222.99.

In energy trading, benchmark US crude oil fell 9 cents to $46.26. It fell 63 cents to $46.35 a barrel Tuesday. Brent crude used to price oil internationally, fell 8 cents to $48.65 a barrel.

The dollar rose to 102.95 yen from 102.33 yen late Tuesday. The euro slipped to $ 1.1159 from $1.1174, according to a news agency report.

Share on Google Plus

About Jessica Hornberger

This is a short description in the author block about the author. You edit it by entering text in the "Biographical Info" field in the user admin panel.