SYDNEY: Asian share markets dithered on Friday as investors waited for concrete signs of progress in the U.S.-Mexican trade standoff, while bracing for a U.S. jobs report that could sway the course of interest rates there.MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged 0.04% higher and looked set for another cautious session being up just 0.6% for the week so far.Japan's Nikkei firmed 0.3%, but South Korea slipped 0.5%. "We haven't adjusted our projection of 185,000 for overall nonfarm payrolls in May," said Kevin Cummins, senior U.S. economist at RBS. "However, any major surprises in May payrolls seem tilted to the low side of our forecast, which wouldn't be too surprising given the rising uncertainty in the outlook in the U.S. and the above-trend gain registered in April. "The killer punch came at the press conference with President Draghi disappointing market's dovish policy pricing with a series 'optimistic' remarks," noted Rodrigo Catril, a senior FX strategist at NAB. "The risk is that once the ECB realises things are really bad, it will find itself well behind the curve.

Source: The Star June 07, 2019 00:33 UTC