Asia Pacific stocks slip ahead of closely watched US jobs data

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong slipped 0.37% in early trade as shares of Chinese tech juggernaut Tencent declined 0.97%.

In South Korea, the Kospi declined 0.78% in morning trade, as shares of industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics slipped 0.87%.

Australia’s ASX 200 was subdued with sectors mostly edging up.

Markets in Japan and China are closed for holidays.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 122.35 points lower at 26,307.79. The S&P 500 shed about 0.21% to close at 2,917.52, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.16% to finish at 8,036.77.

The Fed’s Powell said Wednesday that recently low inflation pressures may just be “transitory,” hinting that a rate cut may not be on the horizon, which disappointed traders. Powell’s comments sparked a sudden sell-off in the previous session, with the Dow closing more than 150 points lower.

The Fed Chairman’s comments followed the central bank’s decision to leave rates unchanged, citing lackluster inflation. Ahead of the meeting, U.S. President Donald Trump had asked the central bank to cut rates and increase stimulus.

Meanwhile, investors also have an eye on the U.S. jobs data for April, with nonfarm payrolls set to be released later on Friday stateside.

“Payrolls tonight are expected (to) reveal still robust levels of payrolls growth (190K) but there’ll be more than one eye on what the report says about average earnings growth that’s expected to grow a meagre 0.1%,” David de Garis, a director and senior economist at National Australia Bank, wrote in a morning note.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 97.806 after rising from levels below 97.6 yesterday.

The Japanese yen traded at 111.40 against the dollar after seeing lows beyond 111.6 in the previous session, while the Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6987 after touching highs above $0.705 earlier in the week.

Oil prices were lower in the morning of Asian trading hours, with the Brent crude futures contract slipping 0.24% to $70.58 per barrel and U.S. crude futures declining marginally to $61.76 per barrel.

— CNBC’s Fred Imbert and Yun Li contributed to this report.