SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Asian stocks were mostly lower in choppy trade Friday and the euro lost ground, as many markets appeared set to end September in the red after some of the heaviest selloffs in the period since the Lehman Brothers collapse in 2008.
"It's hardly surprising that traders are looking to book short term profits," said Ben Potter, strategist at IG Markets in Sydney. "No one has any confidence in trying to let profits run by holding positions over the weekend; there's simply too much uncertainty in the world at the moment," he said.
While U.S. growth and jobless claims data Thursday were encouraging, given Europe's debt crisis "one swallow doesn't make a summer," said Sydney-based Peter Copeland, senior institutional advisor at brokerage BBY. Copper prices were down over 1.5%.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average shed 0.1%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 down 0.1% and South Korea's Kospi Composite fell 0.3%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 2.1% and China's Shanghai Composite slipped 0.5% on its last trading day before a week-long holiday. All these markets slumped to multimonth lows in recent sessions on concerns the West's debt problems and gloomy economies will severely hurt growth in Asia.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 45 points in screen trade.
Southeast Asian markets, which were among the hardest hit in the month, were mixed. Philippine shares jumped 3.1% and Indonesian stocks were up 0.3%, while Thai shares lost 0.2%.
Earlier, the HSBC China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index for September stayed at 49.9, steady from August's level, but still showing contraction in manufacturing activity.
Ng Kian Teck, an investment analyst at SIAS Research, cited concerns of a possible hard landing for Asia's biggest economy. Traders said the markets will be keenly watching China's official PMI data due on Saturday.
The New Zealand dollar dropped, weighing on the euro, after Fitch and Standard and Poor's downgraded their respective debt ratings for the country. The New Zealand dollar was recently at US$0.7667 after the downgrades, from US$0.7782 late Thursday. But the NZX-50 climbed 1.3% as the weaker kiwi bolstered exporters' stocks.
The euro erased some of its gains against the U.S. dollar Thursday following the German Parliament's approval of legislation to modify the European Financial Stability Facility.
"Given that we believe the emergency facility will need to be changed to create a proper firewall around the rest of the periphery, the passage by each government brings the euro zone only incrementally closer to fixing the problem," MF Global said in a report.
The single currency was at $1.3548 against the dollar, from $1.3599 late Thursday in New York, and at Y103.69 against the yen, from Y104.46. The dollar was at Y76.54, from Y76.85.
Chip-related shares fell after Advanced Micro Devices late Thursday lowered its third-quarter sales outlook and Micron Technology unexpectedly swung to a quarterly net loss. In Seoul, Hynix Semiconductor lost 2.5%, while Tokyo Electron shed 4.2%.
Consumer lenders rose in Tokyo on news Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. plans to make its troubled consumer lending subsidiary Promise a wholly owned unit. Aiful rose 10.5%. Promise remained bid-only at Y659.
Spot gold was at $1,623.30 per troy ounce, up $7.40 from New York Thursday. November Nymex crude oil futures were up 48 cents at $82.62 per barrel on Globex.
-John Phillips, Dow Jones Newswires; +65-6415-4142; john.phillips@dowjones.com
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