By Shinichi Saoshiro
TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares took cues from a lower Wall Street and dipped early on Monday, while the dollar was on the defensive against the euro and yen following disappointing U.S. wage growth data that dented prospects for an early interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.2 percent. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.2 percent and South Korea's Kospi lost 0.5 percent.
The markets will look to the revised July Caixin China manufacturing activity index due at 0145 GMT for further incentive. The preliminary purchasing manager's index (PMI) reading had shown that China's factory sector contracted by the most in 15 months.
On Friday, the Dow lost 0.3 percent and the S&P 500 shed 0.2 percent as a drop in energy shares amid the continuing decline in commodities weighed. [.N]
The dollar was little changed at 124.01 yen after sliding off a high of 124.58 on Friday. The euro was steady at $1.1097 after gaining nearly 0.5 percent.
The greenback went on the defensive after data on Friday showed U.S. labour costs in the second quarter recorded their smallest increase in 33 years.
"This raises doubts as to the nature of the recent strengthening of the labour market and what it means for the pace of Fed normalization later this year," strategists at Barclays wrote.
"That being said, the decline seems concentrated in specific sales and office jobs; excluding these, the underlying growth pace was only slightly weaker in Q2, and certainly not as alarming as the headline series suggests."
The weak wage growth data drove U.S. Treasury yields lower to hurt the dollar. The benchmark 10-year U.S. note yield fell six basis points on Friday to a three-week low.
The dollar's pullback helped its Australian peer bounce above 73 U.S. cents and off a six-year trough of $0.7234 plumbed on Friday.
In commodities, crude oil continued to flounder after posting its biggest monthly drop since 2008 in July on China's stock market slump and signs that top Middle East producers were pumping out crude at record levels. [O/R]
U.S. crude was down 0.7 percent at $46.81 a barrel after losing 21 percent in July.
(Editing by Eric Meijer)
