Asian stocks were mostly lower on Friday following a global market selloff overnight but upbeat data from the world's second-largest economy helped cap larger losses.
China's official purchasing manager's index (PMI) rose to a better-than-expected 51.7 in July, better than the country's 51 reading in June. Meanwhile, HSBC's final July reading also came in at 51.7, which was an 18-month high.
Attention was also on the U.S. July jobs report, due later on Friday. Economists expect to see the nonfarm payrolls rise by 233,000 and unemployment rate at 6 percent, which would be down from the 288,000 jobs added in June when the jobless rate stood at 6.1 percent.
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