Asia-Pacific markets mostly dipped on Friday as investors braced for a pivotal U.S. jobs report and processed weaker-than-expected spending data from Japan.
Japan’s household spending for July grew just 0.1% year-on-year, falling short of the 1.2% economists had predicted.
This slight increase follows a 1.4% drop in June, raising concerns about the strength of consumer recovery.
Average household expenditure hit 290,931 yen ($2,031), a 3.3% increase in nominal terms, but it did little to move the markets.
Average household income saw a healthier rise, up 8.9% nominally to 694,483 yen, reflecting a 5.5% boost in real terms compared to last year.
But despite this wage growth, soft spending is putting pressure on the Bank of Japan, complicating potential rate hikes.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 barely held its ground, inching just above the flatline, while the broader Topix index fell 0.36% as the weak data weighed on sentiment.
South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.78%, with the smaller Kosdaq shedding 1.9%.
Meanwhile, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.33%, offering a rare glimmer of green in an otherwise downbeat trading session.
Hong Kong markets, however, were closed for the day due to Super Typhoon Yagi.
The Hong Kong Observatory issued a storm signal, forcing the city’s exchange to halt trading.
On the mainland, China’s CSI 300 traded just below the flatline, reflecting broader regional uncertainty.
In the U.S., all three major indexes fell overnight as investors became increasingly wary of the economic outlook.
The S&P 500 dropped 0.3% for a third straight day of losses, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.54%.
The Nasdaq Composite managed a modest 0.25% gain, despite earlier rising as much as 1.2% during the session.
The mixed economic signals from the U.S. and Japan are casting a shadow over business sentiment in the region, as investors try to navigate an increasingly complex landscape.
Markets are left reacting to both economic and environmental factors, making for an unpredictable outlook.
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