Asian stock markets fell on Monday in thin holiday trading as investors took fright at a sharp slowdown in US hiring - further evidence that the American recovery is running out of steam.
Japan's Nikkei lost 1.18% to close at 9380.35 while the Singapore stock market was down nearly 1% at 3116.78. Markets in Hong Kong, South Korea and mainland China were closed for holidays.
On Wall Street on Friday, much weaker-than-expected non-farm payrolls figures prompted a stock sell-off. The Dow Jones closed 0.8% lower at 12,151.26 while the S&P lost 1% and the Nasdaq was down 1.5%. US employers hired only 54,000 new workers in May, the smallest increase in eight months. Private employment grew at the slowest rate in nearly a year, and the unemployment rate edged up to 9.1% from 9%.
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