Asian stocks turn defensive on Hong Kong unrest

Caution prevails ahead of US jobs data

Asian stocks were on the defensive on Friday despite a late bounce on Wall Street with sentiment staying fragile as the civil unrest in Hong Kong and caution ahead of a closely watched US jobs report kept investors on edge.

The European Central Bank did little to cheer investors on Thursday after it gave no new hints of an imminent sovereign bond buying programme and fell short of market expectations for greater details on its plan to buy secured debt.

"Disappointment stemmed from the absence of a cast-iron commitment from Draghi to do 'whatever it takes' to expand its balance sheet back to its 2012 peaks," said Ray Attrill, global co-head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank.

That in part forced investors to cover bearish positions in the euro, propelling the currency up to $1.2670 and off a two-year trough of $1.2571 set earlier in the week.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.06%, but was still on track for a fourth straight week of declines. It is down more than 8% in the last four weeks, marking its worst performance in over a year.

Tokyo's Nikkei climbed 0.13% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index drifted up 0.05%. South Korean markets are closed for the National Foundation Day.

US stocks reversed early losses to ended pretty much flat on Thursday, with the S&P 500 just a shade firmer at 1,946.17.

Global equities have largely been on the back foot in recent weeks, hit by geopolitical tensions involving Ukraine and Hong Kong, concerns about global growth and expectations the US Federal Reserve will tighten rates sooner than expected.

Investors were keeping a wary eye on developments in Hong Kong, whose leader Leung Chun-ying defied pro-democracy protesters' demands to step down by Friday.

Leung repeated police warnings that the consequences would be serious if protesters sought to surround or occupy government buildings.

Chinese markets remained shut on Friday for the week-long National Day holiday and will reopen in the middle of next week. But official data on activity in China's services sector will still be released at 0100 GMT.

Any disappointment is sure to fuel worries about a slowdown in the Chinese economy and be a further drag on already soft commodity prices.

Copper, which closed down 1.2% at a five-month low of $6,600 a tonne, last traded at $6,646. Oil prices wallowed at their lowest in over two years. Brent crude was at $93.63 a barrel, while US crude was at $91.20.

Investors were also waiting for the influential US nonfarm payrolls report due later on Friday. Analysts polled by Reuters expect US employers to have hired 215,000 workers in September, up from a disappointing 142,000 in August.