Asian stocks were mixed on a subdued Friday, losing steam after two straight days of stellar gains, as investors awaited the crucial U.S. nonfarm payrolls report for September due later in the day.
The U.S. economy is seen adding 203,000 jobs last month, analysts polled by Reuters said.
"Today's payrolls number has once again been labelled a 'much watch' and to be fair, I think traders are getting a bit exhausted of these event risks which are supposed to carry so much weight that they can alter the investment landscape. Still, I don't see another 200,000 payrolls report as a real game changer. Naturally, the market will be keen to see if the tradition of August revisions occurs and this could alter the quality of the report. A fall in the unemployment rate (currently at 5.1%) and an increase in the participation rate would also aid the overall sentiment towards the release," IG's chief market strategist Chris Weston wrote in an email note released on Friday.
Overnight, Wall Street handed over a relatively uninspiring lead. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed marginally below the flatline overnight, while the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 0.2 percent each.