Asian shares were lower overnight ahead of a highly anticipated US jobs report that is expected to influence how the Federal Reserve will move on interest rates.

The Nikkei (^N225) fell 0.7% on the day in Japan, while the Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was 0.8% down by the end of the session.

The Hang Seng (^HSI) was halted in Hong Kong due to an approaching typhoon.

It comes as the nonfarm payrolls report, due for release later this afternoon, will indicate how big of a cut to interest rates the Fed will deliver at its next meeting later this month.

After keeping its main interest rate at a two-decade high to stifle inflation, the Fed has hinted it is about to begin cutting rates to keep the economy from sliding into a recession.

Across the pond on Wall Street, the Dow Jones (^DJI) fell 0.5%, closing at 40,755.75, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) lost 0.3% ending at 5,503.41, and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) managed to eke out a gain of 0.3% to 17,127.66.

In the bond market, the yield on benchmark US 10-year Treasury notes fell 3.729%, from 3.768% late on Wednesday.