China Shares Fall; Japan Rises Ahead of U.S. Jobs Data

China's shares opened lower and banks shares pressured Australia, while stock markets elsewhere in the region rose ahead of a key jobs report in the U.S. later this week.

The Shanghai Composite Index is down 1.6% at 3635.86 and the smaller Shenzhen Composite fell 1.8% to 2089.65. The small-cap ChiNext board is 2.1% lower at 2449.44.

The losses come as investors continue to assess the level of regulators commitment to support of mainland stocks.

Australia's S&P ASX 200 was down 0.7% as the country's biggest banks take steps to raise billions of dollars to meet regulatory demands to bolster capital holdings against the risk of possible crises.

Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. announced Thursday plans to raise 3 billion Australian dollars (US$2.2 billion) as it reported a strong rise in quarterly profit. A day earlier, Westpac Banking Corp. increased the size of a hybrid-securities offering by A$500 million to A$1.25 billion.

Shares of each were down 1.6% and 4% respectively.

A fall in oil also is hurting Australian energy firms after light, sweet crude prices fell to multi-month lows overnight. Weekly inventory data showed a small increase in U.S. crude production and President Barack Obama urged lawmakers to support the Iranian nuclear deal.

Brent was up last 0.3% at $49.76 in Asia trade, although it slid to as low as $49.65 overnight.

Shares of Rio Tinto Ltd. rose 0.6% ahead of the firm's first half earnings after the Australian market closes today. Underlying profit is forecast at US$2.42 billion, based on the median of seven analysts' forecasts compiled by The Wall Street Journal. That's roughly half a year-earlier profit of US$5.12 billion amid a deepening commodities slowdown.

Elsewhere, the Nikkei Stock Average was up 0.8%, helped by a weaker yen, and South Korea's Kospi gained 0.3%.

Investors await U.S. jobs data on Friday, which could color expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next month.

The U.S. dollar traded at ¥ 124.81 from ¥ 124.88 at the close yesterday. The yen has been weakening ahead of U.S. nonfarm payrolls data Friday.

"Yen selling and futures buying is likely to continue for the short-term until this week's U.S. jobs data is completely digested," said Norihiro Fujito, senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

But the U.S. dollar remains stronger against a number of Asian currencies. It rose to as high as 3.8850 Malaysian ringgit for the currency to mark a new 17-year low. The dollar was at 3.8761 at Wednesday's close Asia.

Write to Chao Deng at [e-mail]

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