Asian stocks traded unevenly on Friday as investors adopted a cautious stance before U.S. nonfarm payrolls, a key employment report that could influence expectations for the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate path. Higher bond yields and oil prices weighed on risk appetite, while U.S. stock futures edged higher in Asian trading at 03:14 GMT after Wall Street finished slightly up on Thursday. Hong Kong led regional losses, with the Hang Seng Index falling 3% to an 11-week low near 23,900 points, while the Hang Seng TECH sub-index dropped 2.5%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 0.9% and TOPIX fell 1.1%; South Korea’s KOSPI gained 0.3%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5%, and Singapore’s Straits Times Index slipped 0.3%. Mainland Chinese markets were closed for National Day Golden Week and are due to reopen on Oct. 8, while Indian markets were shut for Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti. Tokyo’s core consumer price index accelerated to 2.7% year-on-year in September from 1.8% in August, exceeding the 2.4% forecast. The Bank of Japan has raised its policy rate to 1.25%, and investors are considering another increase in October or December. Economists expect 89,000 U.S. jobs to have been added in September, with unemployment at 4.1%. CME FedWatch pricing put the probability of a Federal Reserve rate hike in October at about 25%, down from 69% a week earlier, while a December increase remained fully priced. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield reached 5.34% on Thursday, its highest since 2002, before easing to about 5.25% in Asian trading. Brent crude remained above $102 a barrel amid reported plans for a larger U.S. military presence in the Middle East and China’s halt to oil-product exports.