Asia's leading stock exchanges began the week's last trading day in the red, with investors awaiting new job figures from the US, which will be released later on Friday.
In Tokyo, the key Nikkei 225 index fell by 0.1% while the broader Topix index hovered around zero.
Not even in Hong Kong were there any cheerful sounds, as the Hang Seng index retreated by 0.5%.
It was just as dismal for the composite indexes in Shanghai and Shenzhen, which lost 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively.
