TOKYO, June 5, (AP): Asian shares were mixed on Thursday, as Wall Street’s big recent rally lost some momentum following a pair of potentially discouraging reports on the American economy. US futures edged lower and oil prices declined. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 shed 0.2% to 37,658.46, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 declined nearly 0.1% to 8,535.10.


In South Korea, the Kospi jumped 2.1% to 2,829.48 after the country's new president and leading liberal politician Lee Jae-myung began his term, vowing to restart talks with North Korea and beef up a trilateral partnership with the US and Japan. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.9% to 23,856.54, while the Shanghai Composite was little changed, inching down less than 0.1% to 3,374.30. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 finished the day virtually unchanged at 5,970.81 and remained 2.8% below its all-time high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% to 42,427.74, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.3% to 19,460.49. The action was stronger in the bond market, where Treasury yields tumbled following the weaker-than-expected economic updates. One said that activity contracted for US retailers, finance companies and other businesses in the services industries last month, when economists were expecting to see growth.



Businesses told the Institute for Supply Management in its survey that all the uncertainty created by tariffs is making it difficult for them to forecast and plan. A second report from ADP suggested US employers outside of the government hired far fewer workers last month than economists expected

That could bode ill for Friday’s more comprehensive jobs report coming from the US. Labor Department, which is one of Wall Street’s most anticipated data releases each month. So far, the US job market has remained remarkably resilient despite years of high inflation and now the threat of President Donald Trump’s high tariffs. But weakness there could undermine the rest of the economy