Investing.com - Asian shares were mixed on Friday with Tokyo up on signs of life in Japan's household spending and jobs data, while Sydney eased on a dip in the pace of home sales growth.
The S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.49% and the Nikkei 225 rose 0.55%.
Australia reported HIA new home sales for October gained 3.8% after a rise of 6.1% month-on-month in September, and PPI figures for the third quarter showed a 0.5% increase year-on-year, compared to a with a 0.8% gain seen, and a 0.3% rise quarter-on-quarter, lower than the 0.6% rise expected.
Earlier in Japan, national CPI for September fell 0.5% year-on-year as and national core CPI also fell 0.5% year-on-year, the seventh straight drop. Retailers are cautious about raising prices sectors as uncertainty over global and domestic growth remains a factor as well as a lack of wage hikes that make it nearly impossible to achieve a sustained 2% inflation rate as sought by the Bank of Japan by next year.
As well in Japan, household spending dipped 2.1% year-on-year in September, the seventh straight decline, compared to a drop of 3.0% seen and jumped 2.8% month-on-month with a 0.6% gain expected.
The unemployment rate eased to 3.0%, a 21-year-low also touched in July 2016, from 3.1%. The continued improvement in the labor market has failed to boost average
wages, and thus consumer spending, as firms are cautious about raising costs due to uncertainty over global and domestic demand as well as sliding inflation expectations.
Separately, the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.30%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was flat. The yuan continued its slide against the dollar, falling to a fresh six-year low after the central bank set a weaker fixing at 6.7858.
U.S. stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Industrials, Consumer Goods and Consumer Services sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.16%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.30%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.65%.