Asia report: Turbulent trading ahead of Chinese New Year

Trading in Asia moved in various directions on Friday, with traders preparing for US jobs numbers and a thin week of trading next week with the Chinese New Year holiday.

By end of play, Hong Kong's markets had eased off earlier gains but still led the region, with the Hang Seng Index closing up 0.55%. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index - which measures Chinese companies with listings in the special administrative region - was up 1.01%.

Hedge fund Elliott Management urged the Bank of East Asia to explore a sale of its business, leading to the bank's stocks to rise 5.5% in Hong Kong.

Further north, the Nikkei Stock Average lost 1.32% off the back of a strong yen, which reached a fortnight high against the US dollar. Economists were starting to express concerns over whether the Bank of Japan's now week-old negative interest rate policy was going to stabilise the currency.

It was last trading at JPY 116.84 to the dollar, slipping 0.05% off its peak during the day of JPY 116.63.

Markets were also looking across the Pacific to the United States, with lower expectations for further rate increases from the Federal Reserve this year weakening the dollar and giving commodities a mild boost.

"What's worrying the markets is some Fed policy makers' belief that recent developments aren't sufficiently serious or persistent to warrant a material change in the central bank's outlook and view on the gradual path of the rate hike cycle", said IG market strategist Bernard Aw.

The US unemployment figures and non-farm payrolls were due later on Friday too, at 1330 GMT. Forecasts were for a sizeable decrease in the change in non-farm payrolls, to 190,000 from 292,000 last month.

In mainland China, the markets were relatively quiet as Chinese went from the trading floors to massive queues outside train stations for the week-long Lunar New Year holiday. The week is the busiest for travel in the populous nation, as Chinese travel back to their home towns.

The Shanghai Composite dipped 0.63% at close, and the smaller technology-focused Shenzhen slipped 1.15%. Data on the country's foreign reserves was also due on Sunday.

Beijing made an unusual third cash injection into the financial system, ahead of the holiday, pouring CNY 330bn (£34.56bn) into the economy on Friday.

Elsewhere in the region, the Kospi in South Korea was up 0.08%, while the S&P/ASX 200 closed down 0.08% as well, reacting to the wild swings in the price of oil for the week.

In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 was up 0.3%, led by two of Thursday's poor performers A2 Milk and Air New Zealand, though the global volatility in markets and commodities kept traders on their toes, making for light trading.

Auckland-based global apparel retailer Hallenstein Glasson lost 8.4% after reporting a 20% decline in first half profit. Clothing retailers in New Zealand have long claimed they were at a disadvantage to overseas brands, as they had to pay sales tax while the importers did not.

Oil prices continued their turbulent trend. Brent crude was last down 0.12% to $34.42 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate was up 0.31% to $31.82.

In currencies, the Kiwi was 0.13% weaker against the greenback at NZD 1.4894, while the Aussie was 0.21% weaker at AUD 1.3915.

Finally, Swedish furniture giant IKEA lost its trademark in Indonesia, with a local court ruling it was owned by local manufacturer PT Ratania Khatulistiwa.

In that instance, IKEA was said to be an acronym of Intan Khatulistiwa Esa Abadi, which referred to the local rattan industry in Bahasa Indonesia.