Investing.com - Asian shares were narrowly mixed on Friday with Australia banks in focus and investors looking ahead to US nonfarm payroll.
Australia's ASX 200 eased 0.06% weighed by the heavily-weighted financial subindex dropping 0.64%.
Commonwealth Bank shares fell 2.77% after the financial intelligence and regulatory agency on Thursday alleged the bank breached money laundering laws by allowing its Intelligent Deposit Machines to accept thousands of large cash deposits without monitoring user identities.
Among other major banking stocks, ANZ fell 0.25%, Westpac was off by 0.22% and the National Australia Bank rose 0.27%.
Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 0.37%. The Hang Seng Index however edged up 0.10% and the Shanghai Composite added 0.24%.
Meanwhile, the U.S. labor market continued to show signs of tightening, after initial claims for state unemployment benefits decreased 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 240,000 for the week ended July 29, the Labor Department said.
Economists had forecast claims falling to 242,000.
The narrow beat on initial jobless claims comes ahead of nonfarm payrolls due Friday. Nonfarm payroll numbers are forecast to show a 180,000 increase, down from June’s figure of 187,000.
Overnight, the rally in the Dow showed no sign of ending, closing at a record high for the seventh session in a row on Thursday, as traders welcomed the last big wave of corporate earnings this week while a report that the Russia investigation is intensifying capped gains.
The special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation, has impaneled a grand jury in Washington, to investigate Russia interference in the 2016 elections, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
Mr Mueller's move to empanel the grand jury is a sign that his probe is intensifying and could stretch "for months," according to the newspaper.
This latest development in the Russia saga weighed on U.S. stocks as investor fears grew that political uncertainty in Washington would intensify, further delaying the Trump administration’s plan to introduce tax reform, widely seen as an boon for the economy.
Meanwhile, on the economic front, a mixed bag of data did little to offer clarity on whether the economy is strengthening enough to bear an interest rate hike later this year.
The Institute for Supply Management's Index registered 53.9 in July, below economists’ forecasts of 57, indicating a slowdown in service sector activity for the month.
A reading above 50 for the index indicates expansion in the service sector, and a reading below 50 indicates contraction.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher at 22,026. The S&P 500 closed 0.22% lower while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 6340.34, up 0.35%.