ASIA MARKETS: Asian Stocks Edge Lower; Qantas Airways Slides

By Daniel Inman

Asian markets edged down Thursday, with Australia and Singapore among the worst performers, ahead of Friday's U.S. labor report.

Regional stocks fell after the U.S. posted another piece of stronger-than-expected employment data. A report from Automatic Data Processing and Moody's Analytics showed that 215,000 private-sector jobs were added last month, compared with an expected 178,000.

The ADP report is a foretaste of monthly nonfarm payrolls data Friday -- an important indicator over whether the U.S. economy is strong enough for the Federal Reserve to start to reduce its stimulus. In recent months, trading has turned cautious ahead of the labor report, as the central bank has said that employment will be a key factor in its policy decisions.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.6%, South Korea's Kospi fell 0.5%, and Singapore's Straits Times index fell 0.9%.

In China, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 0.4% and the Shanghai Composite lost 0.1%. After the U.S. labor report, China will start to release its monthly economic data for November, with trade figures out over the weekend and inflation numbers on Monday.

The Nikkei lost 0.3%, stabilizing after a sharp 2.2% decline Wednesday, brought about by a reversal in the yen's recent weakening trend that has seen the dollar trade around Yen103 in recent sessions.

The dollar lost 0.2% against the yen in the previous session and edged down a touch to Yen102.30 Thursday.

It was a busy day in terms of corporate news, with several major companies moving sharply lower in response to negative developments.

Qantas Airways (QUBSF) plunged 11.6% in Sydney after it announced a first-half underlying pretax loss of between 250 million and 300 million Australian dollars ($226 million-$271 million). In addition, the firm announced 1,000 job cuts, a pay freeze and structural review of capital expenditure and assets.

Standard Chartered PLC sank 4.3% in Hong Kong after the lender warned that its operating profit would fall this year for the first time in a decade -- due to problems in its South Korea business and a weak fourth quarter.

Chinese telecoms operators bumped higher after they were granted licenses allowing them to run fourth-generation mobile technology that is already being used in developed countries. China Mobile (CHL) is up 0.6%, but China Unicom (CHU) turned lower by 0.5% in Hong Kong.

A number of Japanese companies were reacting to corporate news. Firms that make mini-vehicles fell after a Nikkei report that the government will raise ownership taxes for these cars by October 2015. Suzuki Motor Corp. lost 1.2% and Daihatsu Motor Co. fell 1.7%.

Watchmaker Seiko Holdings Corp. gained 0.6% after the Nikkei reported that the firm's operating profit is likely to increase 150% on year to more than Yen14 billion for the fiscal year ending March 2014.

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires