HONG KONG, July 4 (AFP): Asia's markets were mixed Friday as investor confidence took a blow from worse-than-expected jobs figures out of the United States that suggest a global recovery may not be as close as hoped.

Job losses in the world's largest economy surged to 467,000 in June, pushing the unemployment rate to a fresh 26-year high of 9.5 per cent.

The gloomier-than-expected report dampened hopes that the US slump has hit bottom.

The news sent Tokyo 0.61 per cent lower, Sydney 1.27 per cent down and Singapore 0.91 per cent.

Wall Street tumbled 2.63 per cent.

However, the early losses in some markets gave way to bargain hunting, helping Hong Kong up 0.14 per cent and Seoul 0.6 per cent.

TOKYO: Down 0.61 per cent. The Nikkei-225 fell 60.08 points to 9,816.07.

"Overly optimistic views on the economy are disappearing," Mizuho Securities analyst Yutaka Miura told Dow Jones Newswires.

But the sell-off was relatively limited, partly due to the absence of many foreign players with US markets closed for the Independence Day holiday.

HONG KONG: Up 0.14 per cent. The Hang Seng Index added 25.35 points to 18,203.40.

SYDNEY: Down 1.27 per cent. The S&P/ASX 200 dropped 49.1 points to 3,828.2.

SHANGHAI: Up 0.92 per cent. The Shanghai Composite Index, which covers A and B shares, was up 28.11 points to 3,088.37.

TAIPEI: Flat. The weighted index fell 2.13 points or 0.03 per cent to 6,665.40.

SEOUL: Up 0.6 per cent. The KOSPI ended up 8.56 points at 1,420.04.

SINGAPORE: Down 0.91 per cent. The Straits Times Index dropped 21.07 points to 2,299.75.

KUALA LUMPUR: Down 0.6 per cent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index fell 6.02 points to close at 1,072.69.

BANGKOK: Down 0.50 per cent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index shed 2.94 points to close at 583.48.

JAKARTA: Up 0.46 per cent. The Jakarta Composite Index gained 9.54 points to 2,075.30.

MANILA: Down 0.27 per cent. The composite index fell 6.70 points to 2,431.34.

WELLINGTON: Down 0.24 per cent. The NZX-50 fell 6.68 points to close at 2,761.51.