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TOKYO - Asian stock markets were sluggish on Friday following a lackluster session on Wall Street and mixed economic data from Japan.
Tokyo's Nikkei index was down 0.87 percent, or 77.38 points, at 8.829.1 in the morning, Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.20 percent at lunch, while Hong Kong and Shanghai were both flat in early trade, at 20,600.49 and 2,601.70 respectively.
Analysts said markets were reacting in large part to a tumble on Thursday on Wall Street, where traders were bracing for a sharp revision of US economic growth later on Friday and a speech by US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke.
"Investors are growing increasingly concerned about the US economy and there are repercussions in the Japanese market," Naoki Fujiwara, fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management, told Dow Jones Newswires.
In New York the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed below the sensitive 10,000 level for the first time in nearly two months, dropping 0.74 percent to 9,985.81. The broader S&P 500 index fell 0.77 percent and the Nasdaq 1.07 percent.
Compounding pessimism in Japan, data showed that deflation remained stubbornly entrenched in July, with the core consumer price index falling 1.1 percent from a year earlier, its 17th straight month of decline.
The consumer price data are likely to heighten doubts about the durability of Japan's recovery, which has come under pressure from the effects of a strong yen, feeding into tensions in the governing Democratic Party of Japan, where a leadership contest is under way.
In one bright spot, Japan's unemployment rate edged lower to 5.2 percent in July, its first fall in six months and a 0.1 percentage point drop from June.
Chinese stocks were dragged down by financial shares after disappointing results earlier in the week from insurance giant China Life, which was down 1.79 percent in early Hong Kong trade, adding to a fall on Thursday.
Bank of China was down 1.39 percent in Hong Kong after also disappointing with its first-half results.
Also contributing to Shanghai's limp start were comments Thursday by the head of the National Development and Reform Commission, Zhang Ping, reiterating that housing prices in some cities remained too high, suggesting no let up in measures to cool the market. No new steps were announced, however.
The dollar was range-bound against other currencies, fetching 84.34 yen in Tokyo morning trade, hardly changed from New York late Thursday.
The euro fell to $1.2693 from $1.2720 in New York and to 107.07 yen from 107.35 yen.
Oil prices dipped below $73 as concerns about weak US economic data pervaded crude markets, analysts said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery, fell 37 cents to $72.99 per barrel. Brent North Sea crude for delivery in October shed 33 cents to $74.69.
Gold opened at $1,235.80-$1,236.80 an ounce, down from Thursday's closing price of $1,241.50-$1,242.50.
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