Asia report: Shares mixed ahead of US payrolls

(Sharecast News) - Asian stocks were mixed on Friday as investors awaited a key jobs report from the US, while upbeat trade data from China was overshadowed by a report that some Republican lawmakers had called for a ban of Chinese car battery imports. China's Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.08% higher at 3,051, as the country's trade surplus expanded to a three-month high in May as exports rose more than expected.

The trade balance was $82.62bn last month in USD terms, up from $72.35bn in April, according to the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China. This was well ahead of the $73bn consensus forecast and the biggest trade surplus since February.

Annual export growth picked up to a four-month high of 7.6%, up from 1.5% in April and beating the 6.0% estimate. Import growth however eased to just 1.8% from 8.4% and well below the 4.2% increase expected by economists.

The news was tempered by a Wall Street Journal report that a group of Republican lawmakers said that Chinese battery companies with ties to Ford and Volkswagen should be banned from shipping goods to the US.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.76% to 18,371.

Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.22% to 38,660 ahead of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy meeting next week, where the central bank is expected to embark on a tapering of its bond buying scheme.

Japanese household spending rose for the first time in 14 months in April from a year earlier, data showed on Friday.

India's BSE fell 1.76% to 76,393 as country's central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged, as expected, keeping its focus on inflation amid policy uncertainty following an unexpected election result.

The Monetary Policy Committee kept the benchmark repurchase rate at 6.5% Friday, and stuck to its relatively hawkish stance of "withdrawal of accommodation." Two of the six MPC members voted for a cut, compared with one in the previous meeting.

In Australia, the ASX 200 rose 0.49% to 7,860, led by gains in heavyweight miners, and posted their best weekly rise in almost six months as rate cuts from major central banks boosted risk appetite.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com