Stocks in Asia muted

In Friday afternoon trade, Stocks in Asia were quite muted as investors are expecting U.S. payrolls data for September. It is all set to be released later.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong plunged 0.54% by the afternoon when the reports emerged stating that that the government of Hong Kong is ready to discuss potential emergency regulation in order to ban face masks in protests. The city had to endure unfavorable protests that lasted weeks and those protests have eventually degenerated into violence.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 recovered and surged 0.1% in afternoon trade, whereas the Topix index recovered as it soared 0.1%. In South Korea, the Kospi was relatively higher as shares of industry heavyweight, Samsung Electronics, chipmaker SK Hynix ascended 1% each.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 and shares of biotechnology firm CSL surged 0.42% and 2.97%.

(Reference: CNBC)