The People's Bank of China cut borrowing costs for the second time in less than a month, a response to the country's worst slowdown since the global financial crisis. The central bank reduced the one-year yuan lending rate by 0.31 percentage point, effective Friday, to help kickstart borrowing.
Unlike China, where the timing of the rate cut came as a surprise, the European Central Bank's move to lower borrowing costs was widely anticipated by the market, and the small movements in share prices early Friday suggests it was already priced in.
The European rate cut was bad news for the euro though. At $1.2390 early Friday, the single currency was steady after a 1.1% overnight fall that pushed it down to the lowest level late in New York since the end of May.
The next data point that investors are looking to is employment data from the U.S., out later Friday. Data on private-sector job growth in the U.S. topped estimates, which came out Thursday, increasing hopes that the closely watched U.S. nonfarm payrolls figures will also be strong.
There are some fears, however, that if hiring has picked up, the Federal Reserve will be less likely to introduce new stimulus measures when it meets later in the month.
Japan's Nikkei was flat and Australia's S&P ASX 200 was 0.3% lower.
South Korea edged back down 0.2%, as the index was weighed by its largest constituent, Samsung Electronics . The Korean conglomerate dropped 0.8% after its earnings guidance for the second quarter disappointed investors.
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