Asian markets were mostly lower Friday following another weak lead from Wall Street as investors await the release of key US jobs data, while China said its trade surplus shrank in December.

The euro managed to hold up against the dollar and yen after a brief fall on Thursday fuelled by a warning from the head of the European Central Bank that the eurozone economy remained fragile.

Tokyo slipped 0.18 percent by the break, Sydney lost 0.16 percent, Shanghai was off 0.18 percent and Seoul fell 0.64 percent. However, Hong Kong gained 0.30 percent.

With the US Federal Reserve holding its next policy meeting at the end of the month, investors are closely monitoring Friday s jobs data to see if it will give the central bank more ammunition to further cut its stimulus.

The Fed s most recent meeting saw it reduce its bond-buying scheme by $10 billion a month to $75 billion from January, citing a pick-up in the world s number-one economy.

On Wall Street, the three main indexes ended mostly lower, with disappointing earnings from retailers adding some downward pressure.

The Dow fell 0.11 percent, the S&P 500 edged up 0.03 percent and the Nasdaq eased 0.23 percent.

On forex markets the euro held its own after suffering a sell-off on Thursday in response to ECB head Mario Draghi s warning over the eurozone economy as recent data spurred fears of deflation similar to that suffered by Japan in the past decade.

After announcing the bank would keep interest rates on hold despite the low inflation figures, Draghi said the bloc s "recovery is there, but it is weak, modest and fragile".

He added that there remained "several risks -- financial, economic, geopolitical, political -- that could undermine easily this recovery".

In a bid to soothe markets, Draghi said the ECB was still "determined to maintain the high degree of monetary accommodation and to take further decisive action if required".

The single currency slipped soon after the comments on Thursday -- tumbling to 142.00 yen and $1.3548 at one point from 142.26 yen and $1.3627 prior -- before staging a slight rebound later in the day.

In early Tokyo trade Friday it fetched 142.63 yen and $1.3607.

The dollar was changing hands at 104.81 yen compared with 104.79 yen in New York.

Investors were also digesting figures showing China s trade surplus in December narrowed in December by 17.4 percent to $25.64 billion.

The data was released a day after the government announced inflation in 2013 came in at 2.6 percent, well below the government s target ceiling of 3.5 percent and reducing the chances of a any monetary tightening any time soon.

In oil, New York s main contract, West Texas Intermediate for February delivery rebounded from the previous day s decline and rose 69 cents to $92.35 a barrel, while Brent North crude for February rose 26 cents to $106.65.

Gold fetched $1,232.19 at 0230 GMT compared with $1,226.19 late Thursday.