Asian markets were narrowly mixed in early Monday trade, following a positive finish in the US last Friday after the release of a stronger-than-expected jobs report.

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Japan's Nikkei 225 edged higher by 0.06 percent as most trading houses, automakers and banks climbed. Tech shares, however, were a mixed picture, with Sony falling 1.09 percent and SoftBank Group higher by 0.47 percent in early trade.

Shares of construction company Obayashi Corporation were down 5.44 percent. The move followed a report from local newspaper Asahi Shimbun that prosecutors suspected the company was involved in bid-rigging.

Across the Korean Strait, the Kospi shed 0.1 percent as automakers, brokerages and blue-chip tech stocks declined. Samsung Electronics was off 0.69 percent and SK Hynix edged down 0.51 percent.

Down Under, the S&P/ASX 200 was little changed, trading just 0.02 percent below the flat line. Moderate gains in the energy and materials sub-indexes were offset by losses seen in utilities and consumer discretionary stocks.

In the currency market, the dollar held firm after rising against a basket of rivals from levels below 93.300 in the previous week to 93.892 on Monday morning at 8:25 a.m. HK/SIN.

Among other major currencies, the Japanese yen was steady, trading at 113.51 to the dollar. The Australian dollar traded at USD 0.7504 and the euro last traded at USD 1.1770.

The US economy added 228,000 jobs last month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists polled by Reuters expected a gain of 200,000. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1 percent.

Bitcoin futures hit the markets

Elsewhere, bitcoin traded at USD 15,260.15 at 8:25 a.m. HK/SIN, according to data from Coindesk. The cryptocurrency has seen a more than 1,600 percent jump since the start of the year and topped USD 16,700 per token as of December 7 — although at least one exchange had seen the price exceed USD 19,000.

The Cboe Futures Exchange started trading in Cboe bitcoin futures at about 6 p.m. ET (7 a.m. HK/SIN) under the ticker symbol XBT. The Cboe is the first of the regulated exchanges in the United States to offer a futures contract for the cryptocurrency. Commentators have said that might offer bitcoin some legitimacy in the eyes of institutional investors.

The Cboe Global Markets website was temporarily down when the cryptocurrency futures began trading on Sunday evening US time. Cboe subsequently told Reuters that its trading systems were "operating normally."

The CME Group will also launch its own bitcoin futures which would add to further legitimacy for the cryptocurrency.

First Published:Dec 11, 2017 7:39 AM IST