Asian shares were mostly lower on Friday while bonds snapped a vicious losing streak and the euro retreated as investors braced for US jobs data and another day of drama over Greece.

The main exception was China where stocks reached new highs after a week of roller-coaster action. Shanghai added 1 per cent to clear the 5,000 barrier for the first time since early 2008, while the CSI300 gained 1.1 per cent.

Elsewhere, the mood was subdued with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down a slim 0.2 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dipped 0.5 per cent, while shares in South Korea lost 0.4 per cent.

Greece debt payment

In the latest Greek twist, Athens delayed a debt payment to the IMF and instead chose to bundle four payments into a single €1.6 billion lumpsum which is now due on June 30.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will put creditors’ proposals to parliament from 1500 GMT on Friday, but he has already dubbed the plan “extreme’’.

US non-farm payrolls data

Before that likely contentious meeting gets underway, markets are bracing for the latest reading on US jobs. Median forecasts in a Reuters’poll are for payrolls to rise 225,000 with the jobless rate steady at 5.4 per cent.

Yet markets only imply a one-in-three chance of a lift off in Fed funds by September, and are not fully priced for a move until December.

“That September is seen as the first possible tightening by the Fed and there are two meetings before then, detracts significantly from the sensitivity to the data,’’ says Alan Ruskin, head of forex at Deutsche.

“It would probably need a payroll number either side of 150,000 or 250,000 to get the market really excited whereby Fed expectations/probabilities start to change materially.’’

Wall Street on the defensive

Caution ahead of the report kept Wall Street on the defensive. The Dow had ended Thursday down 0.94 per cent, while the S&P 500 lost 0.86 per cent and the Nasdaq 0.79 per cent.

Declining oil and gold prices also weighed on energy and materials shares, which led declines in the S&P 500.

Global bond yields swung wildly for a third straight session, but did at least end well below their highs. Yields on 10-year German bunds got as far as 0.996 per cent at one stage before rallying all the way to 0.83 per cent.

Treasury yields

On Friday, 10-year Treasury yields were hovering around 2.33 per cent having been as high as 2.425 per cent.

Treasuries had got a boost when the IMF downgraded its outlook for the US economy and took the unusual step of cautioning the Fed to wait until the first half of 2016 to start raising interest rates.

Currencies were equally whipsawed, with the euro spiking to $1.1380 at one stage before recoiling to $1.1201 in Asian trading. The single currency also lapsed to 139.42 yen from a five-month peak of 141.06.

The dollar held at 124.46 yen having bounced between 123.76 and 124.68 in the past couple of sessions. The dollar index, which measures it against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.3 percent at 95.714.

OPEC meet

In commodity markets, oil was under pressures ahead of an OPEC meeting that is expected to affirm an output target of 30 million barrels per day, ignoring calls from some producers to cut supply and support prices.

Brent crude edged up 5 cents to $62.09 a barrel, while US crude futures eased 5 cents to $57.95.

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