Asian markets mixed on China, US data

HONG KONG: Asian markets were mixed Tuesday, in the first full day of trade after the Easter break, as investors digested weak US jobs data and concerns over the global economy.

Tokyo gained 0.77 percent by the break, Hong Kong shed 0.90 percent, Shanghai fell 0.19 percent, Sydney was 0.62 percent off and Seoul added 0.54 percent.

There was little movement immediately after Beijing released figures showing the China had swung back to a trade surplus in March after seeing a huge deficit in the previous month that had raised concerns over the economy.

Sydney and Hong Kong were reacting for the first time to news out of the United States that the recent surge in jobs growth had come to a halt.

The US Labor Department reported the economy created just 120,000 jobs in March, well below analyst forecasts of 200,000, although the unemployment rate edged down to a more than three-year-low of 8.2 percent from 8.3 percent.

The weak figures raised speculation that the Federal Reserve may yet have to apply fresh stimulus to boost growth.

In response to the figures, on Wall Street Monday the Dow fell one percent, the S&P 500 shed 1.14 percent and the Nasdaq dropped 1.08 percent.

China said Tuesday that it had recorded a trade surplus of $5.35 billion last month - beating expectations of another deficit - as exports rose 8.9 percent year on year.