Overnight

Lower crude oil prices spilled over from Wall Street to Asian shares Thursday as eyes are focused on the U.S. non-farm payroll jobs Friday keeping things relatively quiet. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.2%, South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.5%, and Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average traded up 0.1%.

The WSJ reported: "Trading volumes across Asia, particularly in Japan and China, remained well below 100-day moving averages for most of August, as summer holiday absences and unmet expectations of monetary easing contributed to reduced volatility and a slower trading season. The start of the fall season and key economic data points from the U.S. could change that.

The Caixin China manufacturing purchasing managers index, a private gauge of nationwide factory activity, fell to 50.0 in August from 50.6 in July but still showed an expansion, albeit at a slower pace.

Still, the August data helped turn losses into gains in Hong Kong, with the Hang Seng Index rising 0.2%. However, investor excitement was lacking in mainland China, with the Shanghai Composite Index falling 0.2% and the Shenzhen Composite Index also down around that much."

Traders also pointed to dollar strength as one of the reasons for lower commodity prices. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was at 95.986 as of 11:04 a.m. HK/SIN, up from levels below 94.800 last week.

The Japanese yen weakened, with dollar strength pushing the dollar/yen pair to 103.21, up from levels near 100.50 last week, Reuters noted.