Asian stock markets are mostly lower on Monday despite the positive lead from Wall Street on Friday with investors treading cautiously following the release of disappointing U.S. jobs data and on news of the terror attack in London that left at least seven people dead.
The Australian market is declining as investors turned cautious following the release of weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs data and on lower crude oil prices.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is declining 44.40 points or 0.77 percent to 5,743.70, off a low of 5,742.10. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 38.80 points or 0.67 percent to 5,782.30.
The major miners are mostly lower despite steady iron ore prices. BHP Billiton is losing almost 2 percent and Rio Tinto is down 0.5 percent, while Fortescue Metals is rising almost 1 percent.
In the banking space, ANZ Banking, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac are lower in a range of 1.6 percent to almost 2 percent.
Oil stocks are also weak after crude oil prices fell Friday. Oil Search is declining more than 1 percent, Woodside Petroleum is down almost 1 percent and Santos is lower by 0.7 percent.
Bucking the trend, gold miners are advancing after gold prices hit six-week highs on Friday. Newcrest Mining is rising almost 2 percent and Evolution Mining is higher by more than 3 percent after gold prices.
Immuron said sales of the Travelan drug rose 13 percent for the ten months to April 30, 2017. The company's shares are gaining more than 7 percent.
On the economic front, the latest survey from the Australian Industry Group showed that the service sector in Australia continued to expand in May, although at a slower rate, with a service PMI score of 51.5. That's down from 53.0 in April, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar is back above the $0.74 mark on Monday. In early trades, the local unit was trading at US$0.7426, up from US$0.7390 on Friday.
The Japanese market is modestly lower, with disappointing U.S. jobs data and the terror attack in London dampening investor sentiment. In addition, a stronger yen weighed on exporters' shares.
In late-morning trades, the Nikkei 225 Index is losing 35.88 points or 0.18 percent to 20,141.40, off a low of 20,104.13.
The major exporters are lower on a stronger yen. Sony and Panasonic are declining 0.4 percent each, Canon is declining 0.3 percent and Toshiba is down 0.2 percent.
Among automakers, Toyota is losing almost 2 percent and Honda is down more than 2 percent. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are down almost 1 percent each.
In the oil space, Inpex is down more than 1 percent and JXTG Holdings is lower by more than 2 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Yaskawa Electric is rising more than 3 percent, while SoftBank, Tokyo Electron and Nippon Express are higher by more than 2 percent each.On the flip side, Mitsubishi Materials is losing 4 percent, while Sumitomo Metal and NTN Corp. are down almost 4 percent each.
In economic news, the latest survey from Nikkei revealed that the services sector in Japan continued to expand in May, and at a faster rate with a PMI score of 53.0. That's up from 52.2 in April, and it moves farther above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the mid 110 yen-range on Monday.
Elsewhere in Asia, Shanghai, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong are also lower, while Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan are modestly higher. The New Zealand market is closed for the Queen's Birthday holiday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed higher on Friday even though a report from the Labor Department showed much weaker than expected job growth in the month of May. The report said non-farm payroll employment rose by 138,000 jobs in May after climbing by a downwardly revised 174,000 jobs in April.
While the Nasdaq advanced 58.97 points or 0.9 percent to 6,305.80, the Dow rose 62.11 points or 0.3 percent to 21,206.29 and the S&P 500 increased 9.01 points or 0.4 percent to 2,439.07.
The major European markets also moved to the upside on Friday. The German DAX Index has jumped by 1.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.5 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged up by 0.1 percent.
Crude oil futures fell further Friday, extending weekly losses amid industry figures showing U.S. drillers added rigs for the 20th week in a row. Crude for July delivery slid $0.70 or 1.5 percent to close at $47.66 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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Business News
May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.