Australia

Australian shares are set to edge higher in trade today after US markets ended last week in the green. ASX futures were up 19 points or 0.26% at 7334 as of 8:00am on Saturday, pointing to a gain at the open.

US stocks fell a bit on Friday after the November jobs report showed the economy added more jobs than expected, raising worries over when the Fed will slow down the pace of rate rises.

The S&P 500 declined 0.1% to 4071 and the Nasdaq gave up 0.2% to 11461 while the Dow gained 0.1% to 34429. Big gains Wednesday following Fed Chairman Powell's speech help stocks end the week in the black, with the Dow up 0.2%, the S&P 1.1% higher and the Nasdaq gaining 2.1%.

In commodity markets, Brent crude oil slipped 1.2% to $US 85.84 a barrel, gold edged down 0.3% to US$1,797.57.

In local bond markets, the yield on Australian 2 Year government bonds dropped to 2.98% while the 10 Year fell to 3.39%. Overseas, the yield on 2 Year US Treasury notes declined to 4.28% and the yield on the 10 Year US Treasury notes was down at 3.48%.

The Australian dollar hit 68.02 US cents down from the previous close of 68.10. The Wall Street Journal Dollar Index, which tracks the US dollar against 16 other currencies edged down to 97.28.

Asia

Chinese shares finished mixed, as the Shanghai Composite Index snapped a three-session winning streak, dragged by property developers. China Vanke fell 3.2% after the real-estate company said its major shareholder will propose a general mandate for share issuance. Nomura analysts say in a note that the market's attention is shifting to property-sales recovery amid a more favorable policy environment. Gemdale Corp. and Seazen Holdings each lost more than 3.0%. But some energy stocks strengthened, with PetroChina and Cnooc up 0.2% and 1.3%, respectively. The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.3% to 3156.14, paring weekly gains to 1.8%. The Shenzhen Composite Index was flat and the ChiNext Price Index was 0.1% higher.

Hong Kong stocks ended lower, retreating from a recent rally driven by investor optimism over China's easing Covid stance. The benchmark Hang Seng Index edged down 0.3% to settle at 18675.35. Losses across a mixed bag of sectors weighed on the market. Chip maker SMIC was the worst performer on the index, falling 5.4% and extending its downturn in recent weeks, as worries rose over its worse-than-expected 3Q earnings and deteriorating outlook due to the impact of U.S. export controls against the company. Property companies also weakened, as Country Garden Services fell 4.5% and Longfor shed 4.3%.

Japanese stocks ended broadly lower, dragged by sharp falls in electronics and insurance stocks, as concerns continue about policy tightening by central banks and the global economic outlook. MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings drops 3.4% and Olympus Corp. loses 3.2%. The Nikkei Stock Average fell 1.6%.

Europe

European stocks traded mixed in closing trade as investors reacted to the latest US nonfarm payrolls report. The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.2%, the British FTSE 100 traded flat, the German DAX rose 0.3% and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.3%.

"European markets slipped back from their highs of the week, in the wake of an unexpectedly strong US labor market report for November, which saw 263,000 jobs added in November, and wages jumped sharply to 5.1%, although the pullback has been fairly modest in nature," CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson wrote.

The resilience of the jobs data prompted investors to price out the prospect of an imminent sharp slowdown in the Federal Reserve's interest rate rise cycle, he said.

North America

Major U.S. stock indexes ended a choppy session mixed Friday, while still posting weekly gains, after monthly jobs data showed the Federal Reserve's rapid pace of interest rate hikes has yet to tame the roaring labor market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose about 33 points Friday, or 0.1%, ending near 34,428, after flipping between gains and losses. The S&P 500 index shed 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.2%, according to FactSet. The main benchmarks still booked a second weekly advance in a row. The Dow rose 0.2% for the week, the S&P 500 gained 1.1% and the Nasdaq closed the week up 2.1%, according to FactSet.

A hope that Federal Reserve officials might be able to raise rates at a slower pace in December has been feeding a more bullish tone in markets over the past two months, helping to significantly trimming year-to-date losses. But with the U.S. unemployment rate still low at 3.7% and wages rising in November, concerns resurfaced about the potential need for aggressive Fed actions to bring inflation down. Economists said Friday that could put another jumbo rate increase back on the table ahead of the holidays.