By Sarah Turner
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) -- Shares in Sydney, Hong Kong, Seoul and Singapore traded lower midday Thursday, while Tokyo shares seesawed around the break-even point, with equity market moves subdued ahead of a key U.S. jobs report due out at the end of the week. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index (AU:XJO 4,691, +4.52, +0.10%) declined 0.1%, though strong employment data helped support the Sydney market. The Singapore Strait Times index lost 0.5%, South Korea's Kospi index (XX:KS11 1,904, +25.01, +1.33%) lost 0.2% and the Hong Kong Hang Seng (HK:HSI 22,920, +39.13, +0.17%) index declined 0.2%. The Nikkei Stock Average index (JP:NI225 9,685, -6.62, -0.07%) gave up some late morning gains to trade down 0.2%, though shipping shares were strong with Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. (JP:9104 527.00, +12.00, +2.33%) (MSLOF 6.31, -0.23, -3.45%) up 3.2%. Miners were also advancing, after gold touched another record high, with BHP Billiton Ltd. (AU:BHP 40.95, +0.42, +1.04%) (BHP 80.09, +1.89, +2.42%) shares up 0.9% in Sydney. |
