Asia shares slip on Korea, bird flu worry, wary before US jobs

TOKYO: Asian shares hit a three-month low on Friday as concerns over bird flu in China and escalating tensions in the Korean peninsula unsettled investors as they counted down to potentially pivotal U.S. payrolls data out later in the session.

Japanese equities, however, soared and the yen hit a 3-1/2-year low against the dollar on Friday after the Bank of Japan's unprecedented monetary expansion, but Japanese government bonds had a turbulent session with the key 10-year bond yield soaring after hitting historic lows soon after trading started.