Asia stocks slip after U.S. jobs data

In currencies, the dollar edged up as investors favoured the greenback as a safe haven while positions in riskier currencies and assets were cut.

The dollar index, a gauge of its performance against six major currencies, edged up slightly to 80.324.

The euro slipped slightly to $1.3990 from near $1.4003 in late New York trade, down from a one-month peak near $1.42 hit earlier in the week and hit by hedge fund selling before the long U.S. weekend. The dollar was little changed at 95.96 yen.

The worries about the recovery outlook added fuel to gains in government bonds.

The 10-year JGB yield was down 2.5 basis points at 1.330 percent, with some buying spurred after an auction of the maturity found solid demand the previous day despite a bigger monthly amount to help pay for stimulus spending.

But Japan's low yields have prompted domestic investors to go abroad in search of higher returns.

Data from the Ministry of Finance on Thursday showed domestic investors snapped up 1.53 trillion yen (10 billion pounds) of foreign bonds in the weekend ending June 27, the biggest such weekly purchases in four years. Analysts said those purchases were mainly concentrated in U.S. Treasuries.

Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields are about 2.2 percentage points above JGB yields, holding near the widest such level in eight months and making them attractive to Japanese investors.