By Laura He, MarketWatch
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Hong Kong stocks closed lower Friday,
as investors awaited the closely-watched U.S. jobs report due out
later in the day.
The U.S. Labor Department was scheduled to release the
employment report for August at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time on Friday,
with economists on average estimating that
The Hang Seng Index edged down 0.2%, even as Sino-British
banking giant HSBC Holdings PLC , which has a weighting of more
than 14% in the benchmark index, rebounded 0.4% after losses the
previous day. HSBC's weighting is due to shrink as the 15% limit on
Hang Seng Index weightings is set to be lowered in five steps,
starting after Friday's close.
Other top components on the benchmark also headed lower, with
Tencent Holdings Ltd. down 0.9%, and China Mobile Ltd. off
0.3%.
Chinese train makers CSR Corp. % and China CNR Corp. resumed
trading after a one-day suspension on Monday, with CSR saying in a
statement that it couldn't confirm or comment on previous media
reports about a possible merger between it and CNR, the two
state-owned rail giants. CSR declined 0.6%, while China CNR rose
0.9%.
Other market movers included Macau casino operators Galaxy
Entertainment Group Ltd. , falling 1.4%, SJM Holdings Ltd. ,
dropping 1.1%, and Sands China Ltd. , retreating 1%. Rival Melco
Crown Entertainment improved by 1.3%.
In Japan, the Nikkei Average inched down 0.1%, while the yen
(USDJPY) strengthened to Yen105.244 per dollar from Yen105.378 per
dollar a day ago. The broader Topix index dropped 0.3%.
In other Asian markets, Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 ended 0.6%
lower, while the Australian dollar (AUDUSD) moved up to 93.56 U.S.
cents from 93.46 U.S. cents a day earlier.
Elsewhere, South Korea's Kospi Composite Index finished down
0.3%, while mainland China's Shanghai Composite Index settled 0.9%
higher for its sixth straight gain.
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires