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Seoul - Asian stock markets were mostly lower Monday as a disappointing US jobs report late last week sent Wall Street lower.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped less than 0.1% to 23 678.22. China's Shanghai Composite index was lower by 0.2% to 2 831.60.
South Korea's Kospi fell 0.4% to 2 078.77, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was narrowly down by 3.6 points to 4 701.70. Indexes in Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia and the Philippines were also down. Bucking the trend was the New Zealand exchange, up by 0.1% to 3 20.78.
Financial markets in Japan were closed on Monday for a national holiday. The Nikkei 225 stock average, Asia's largest, rose Friday to a fresh eight-month high of 10 541.04.
On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 22.55 points, to close at 11 674.76. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 2.35, to 1 271.50. The Nasdaq composite index fell 6.72, to 2 703.17.
The US Labour Department said on Friday that employers added 103 000 jobs in December, less than analysts expected. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, fell to 9.4%, down from 9.8% in November and the lowest rate in 19 months. The decline came partly because many people gave up looking for work.
In currencies, the dollar was trading at ¥83 from ¥83.03 on Friday. The euro stood at $1.2921 from $1.2934.
Benchmark oil for February delivery rose $1.49 to $89.52 a barrel in Singapore in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The contract fell 30 cents to settle at $88.03 on Friday.
