HONG KONG: Asian stock markets were mixed on Monday after a US jobs report gave a muddy picture of the state of the world's biggest economy, while concerns over Egypt kept oil above $100.
Tokyo gained 0.69 percent by the break and Seoul jumped 1.56 percent while Sydney was flat and Hong Kong fell 0.28 percent in the morning.
Trade was quiet across the region as dealers in many markets returned to work after the Lunar New Year holiday, although Shanghai and Taipei remained closed.
"The trend of a global equity market rise is continuing on the back of a stable recovery in the US economy," Hiroichi Nishi, general manager at Nikko Cordial Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.
The United States released data Friday showing just 36,000 non-farm jobs were created in January, far fewer than the 148,000 expected.
However, it also said the unemployment rate fell to 9.0 percent of the workforce from 9.4 percent.
Normally such a big decline in the jobless rate would boost optimism over the country's recovery -- the rate has been above nine percent for 22 months.
But the government also said the fall came after recalculations on population. At the same time it said the low job creation number was because of the apparent impact of huge snowstorms in January, which skewed data collection.
"Encouraging economic data, particularly in the US, has helped to shield markets to some extent... the main impact of Egypt and Middle East contagion continues to be felt on oil prices although we believe this will be short-lived," Credit Agricole said in a note to clients.
Brent North Sea crude for delivery in March advanced 71 cents to $100.54 while New York's main contract, light sweet crude for March, added 32 cents to $89.35 per barrel.
Crude traders have been edgy since an uprising in Egypt began nearly two weeks ago with demands for President Hosni Mubarak to step down.
While Egypt is not a major crude producer, it is home to the Suez Canal, which carries about 2.4 million barrels daily, roughly equal to Iraq's output.
Traders are also concerned about the wider ramifications of the events in Egypt on the oil-rich Middle East.
On forex markets, the dollar fetched 82.20 yen in Tokyo morning trading, up slightly from 82.19 in New York late Friday.
The euro gained to $1.3617 dollars from 1.3583, and rose to 111.71 yen from 111.62 yen.
Gold opened at $1,347.80-$1,348.80 an ounce in Hong Kong, up from Wednesday's close of $1,340.70-$1,341.70.
The market was closed on Thursday and Friday for the Lunar New Year holiday.
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