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Wall Street provided a strong lead following upbeat jobs data, but the South Korean index was dragged by tech giant Samsung Electronics despite posting a surge in net profit.

Tokyo fell 0,30 percent or 41,95 points to 13 884,13 and Seoul lost 0,36 percent or 7,05 points to 1 944,55, while Sydney eased 0,10 percent or 4,9 points to close at 5 097,5.

Shanghai slipped 0,97 percent, ending down 21,40 points at a four-month low of 2 177,91 but Hong Kong added 0,65 percent or 146,47 points, to 22 547,71.
Japan’s Nikkei suffered some selling at the end of another impressive week that saw it add around 5 percent thanks to the yen’s continued weakness.

The yen, however, enjoyed a rally on Friday after the BoJ said its policy board had voted unanimously to stand pat on policy.
The meeting was the first since it unveiled a huge stimulus package at the start of April aimed at kick starting the economy and ending years of deflation.

In European trade the dollar slipped to 98,62 yen, from 99,29 yen late on Thursday in New York. The dollar has been unable to breach the 100 yen marker, which it last saw in April 2009, despite moving within a whisker of it earlier this week.

The euro bought US$1,3020 and 128,37 yen compared with US$1.,3009 and 129,16 yen in New York.
US shares gave regional dealers a positive cue after the Labour Department said claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level since mid-March. Initial claims came in at 339 000, down from the prior week’s revised reading of 362 000.

On Wall Street the Dow climbed 0,17 percent, the S&P 500 rose 0,40 percent and the Nasdaq jumped 0,62 percent. — AFP.