Asian shares slip as investors brace for uncertainty, await US jobs report

Asian shares were mostly lower on Friday, with Tokyo's benchmark down more than 2 per cent after a sell-off on Wall Street.

US futures and oil prices were higher.

Bitcoin was trading near $88,266, down 3.4 per cent according to CoinDesk, after President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday establishing a government reserve of bitcoin, a key marker in the cryptocurrency's journey towards possible mainstream acceptance.

China reported lower than expected exports and imports for January-February, with exports growing just 2.3 per cent and imports sinking 8.4 per cent, the government said. China's trade data for the first two months of the year are usually combined to make up for distortions from Lunar New Year holidays.

US stocks fell after President Donald Trump offered another temporary reprieve from his 25 per cent tariffs on many goods imported from Mexico and Canada, underscoring the uncertainty the tariffs have created for the global economy. Investors showed little enthusiasm, unlike the bounce stocks got the prior day from his giving a one-month exemption specifically for automakers.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 2.2 per cent to 36,887.17 on heavy selling of technology related shares. Computer chip-maker Tokyo Electron's shares dropped 3.1 per cent and testing equipment maker Advantest gave up 2.3 per cent. Both saw steep drops in their US-listed shares overnight.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng reversed early gains, dropping 0.7 per cent to 24,204.97, while the Shanghai Composite index handed back 0.3 per cent to 3,372.55.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 tumbled 1.8 per cent to 7,948.20. South Korea's Kospi fell 0.5 per cent to 2,563.48 after a court ordered impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol to be released from jail, more than a month after he was arrested and indicted over his short-lived imposition of martial law.

The Taiex in Taiwan declined 0.6 per cent.

India's Sensex was nearly unchanged and SET in Bangkok gained 0.3 per cent.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 tumbled 1.8 per cent to 5,738.52 to resume its slide after a mini-recovery from the prior day clawed back some of its sharp drop over recent weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1 per cent to 42,579.08, while the Nasdaq composite tumbled 2.6 per cent to 18,069.26, finishing more than 10 per cent below its record set in December.

Stocks have been buoyed by hopes that Trump may be using tariffs as a negotiating tactic rather than a permanent policy and that he may avoid a worst-case trade war that grinds down economies and sends inflation higher.

But Trump is still pressing ahead with other tariffs scheduled to take effect April 2. And the dizzying back-and-forth moves on tariffs is amping up uncertainty. US businesses are already saying they're confronting chaos because of all the uncertainty coming out of Washington. while households are bracing for higher inflation.

Next up for Wall Street is a report Friday from the US Labour Department on how many workers US employers hired last month. A solid job market so far, along with the solid spending by US households that it's allowed, have been linchpins in preventing a recession. Economists are expecting to see an acceleration in hiring for February.

Semiconductor companies and their suppliers, which soared to staggering heights because of the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology, led losses. Nvidia, fell 5.7 per cent, while Broadcom lost 6.3 per cent ahead of the release of its earnings report.

In other dealings early Friday, US benchmark crude oil bounced back, gaining 44 cents to $66.80 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, advanced 47 cents to $69.93 per barrel.

The US dollar fell to 147.54 Japanese yen from 147.98 yen. Rising labour costs have reinforced expectations that the Japanese central bank may raise its benchmark interest rate soon to counter surging inflation.

Japan's trade unions are requesting an even larger pay hike in this year's spring wage negotiations than they did a year ago and we expect employers to comply, Marcel Thieliant of Capital Economics said in a report.

The euro rose to $1.0841 from $1.0786, gaining after the European Central Bank cut interest rates Thursday, as expected.