- Canada to further cut international student, foreign worker permits
- YouTube launches new TV-focused tools for creators
- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- China the top challenge in US history: senior diplomat
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- Man City blunted by 'giant' Inter in Champions League stalemate
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 20, wound 450
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
- Venezuelan opposition candidate says letter conceding election was coerced
- Ukraine official claims Russian advance in Kursk has been 'stopped'
- X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: internet providers
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 14, wound 450
- US Fed makes aggressive rate cut, weeks before election
- Arsenal's Odegaard faces lengthy injury absence
- India coal expansion risks massive methane growth: report
- China the top challenge in US history, top diplomat says
- US Fed makes larger half-point cut in first reduction since 2020
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr appoint former AC Milan boss Pioli
- Ainslie 'relieved' as British book place in Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Struggling Roma replace sacked icon De Rossi with Ivan Juric
- Women's NBA will add 15th team in Portland in 2026
- Brazil fires need harsher punishment: environmental police boss
- Boeing to start large temporary furloughs amid Seattle strike
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill nine, wound 300
- 'Emergency' declared over falling UK butterfly numbers
- McIlroy outlines threats to golf peace deal
- Stock markets, dollar slip before US rate decision
- Russian advance in Kursk 'stopped': Ukraine official to AFP
- UN members demand end to 'unlawful' Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- Snapchat pushes 'safer' platform image, but not everyone agrees
- Three dead, 100 wounded in new wave of Lebanon device explosions
- So where does the oceans' plastic waste come from?
- Allied war heroes buried in Netherlands... 80 years on
- Marsh coy over Australia's choice to open alongside Head
- New London sculpture pays tribute to trans community
- Lebanon doctors tell of horror after pager blasts
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Asian markets mixed as US jobs data ramps up rate-hike bets
Asian markets fluctuated in early trade on Monday as a forecast-busting US jobs report reinforced optimism that the world's top economy was well on the recovery track but also ramped up interest rate hike expectations.
The much-anticipated non-farm payrolls data on Friday saw the Labor Department sharply revise up the previous three months' readings, while also revealing a wage growth surge.
With all-important inflation reports this week tipped to show prices rising at a pace not seen for four decades, traders are becoming increasingly anguished about the US central bank's plans to bring them under control while being careful not to jeopardise the recovery.
There is mounting talk that officials will have to hike borrowing costs at least four times this year -- with some predicting as many as seven could be on the cards.
The move to tighter policies, which is likely to start in March, will bring an end to the era of ultra-cheap cash that has helped fuel a near two-year markets rally. And that has been acting as a hefty weight on stocks at the start of the year.
The Fed is in a difficult spot, "trying to manage the real economy where we see that hot inflation and the financial economy, which quivers every time we talk about rate rises", Karen Harris, of Bain & Co, told Bloomberg Television.
With the jobs reading showing the economy remained resilient in the face of the Omicron variant, supply chain snarls and surging prices, Wall Street mostly rose, helped by a thumping rise in Amazon.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed on a positive note, though the Dow dipped.
Asia was mixed in early exchanges. Shanghai led the gainers as investors returned from their week-long Lunar New Year break to play catch-up with a broadly strong week across world markets, while Singapore, Taipei and Jakarta were also in positive territory.
However, Hong Kong dropped after surging more than three percent Friday, with Tokyo, Sydney, Seoul and Manila also down.
Expectations that demand will continue to improve as the world economy reopens put further upward pressure on oil prices, with a cold snap in the United States and ongoing uncertainty over the Russia-Ukraine standoff adding to the gains.
Brent briefly hit $94 for the first time since October 2014, and analysts have predicted the contract, as well as West Texas Intermediate, could top $100 soon, though signs of a breakthrough in Iran nuclear talks could help staunch the surge, observers said.
"Demand for petrol-based products is soaring, while OPEC and US shale supply remain constrained," Stephen Innes, of SPI Asset Management, said. "Having Iran back in the supply mix would have a significant and lasting impact on oil prices. It would likely stop the soaring price rally."
- Key figures around 0230 GMT -
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.9 percent at 27,203.66 (break)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.6 percent at 24,417.55
Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.7 percent at 3,419.21
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.3 percent at $92.02 per barrel
Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.2 percent at $93.42 per barrel
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1429 from $1.1453 late Friday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3525 from $1.3527
Euro/pound: DOWN at 84.51 pence from 84.65 pence
Dollar/yen: UP at 115.29 yen from 115.21 yen
New York - Dow: DOWN 0.1 percent at 35,089.74 (close)
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 7,516.40 (close)
H.Seidel--BTB