Upwards in China – downwards in Japan

There were positive indexes on the stock exchanges in Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong in Friday's morning trade, boosted by gains for Chinese tech companies.

The composite indexes in Shanghai and Shenzhen were up 1.3 and 2.4 percent, respectively, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 1.2 percent.

In Japan, the trend was the opposite, as investors awaited US job statistics later on Friday. The Nikkei 225 index was down 0.5 percent and the Topix index minus 0.4 percent.

In South Korea, the Kospi index was down 0.6 percent.