Stocks Update

The Asian stock markets are expected to open mixed with a slight downside bias on Friday, with caution likely to reign ahead of the monthly U.S. jobs data coming out later in the day.

The European Central Bank cut interest rates to a record low of 0.75 percent, while the People's Bank of China also lowered rates for the second time in two months.

Also, the Bank of England increased the size of its asset purchase plan by 50 billion pounds.

The U.S. markets finished mixed but little changed on Thursday as the NASDAQ edged up 0.04 points or less than a tenth of a percent to finish at 2,976.12, while the Dow fell 47.15 points or 0.4 percent to end at 12,896.67 and the S&P 500 slid 6.44 points or 0.5 percent to 1,367.58.

The major European markets also were mixed on Thursday as the DAX of Germany fell by 0.45 percent and the CAC 40 of France finished lower by 1.17 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. increased by 0.21 percent and the SMI of Switzerland gained 0.02 percent.

The Asian markets were mixed on Thursday as Singapore's Straits Times jumped 0.77 percent, while Thailand collected 0.64 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gathered 0.50 percent, South Korea's KOSPI gained 0.06 percent and Malaysia added 0.04 percent.

Moving lower, Indonesia eased 0.2 percent, while Japan's Nikkei shed 0.3 percent, Taiwan fell 0.46 percent and China's Shanghai Composite plunged 1.17 percent.

by RTT Staff Writer