BANGKOK, Thailand — World markets were mixed today as investors anticipated interest rate cuts in Europe and braced for more bad news from Friday's U.S. jobs report.

Japan's Nikkei 225 average fell 79.86 points, or 1 percent, to 7,924.24 as automakers continued to slide amid signs of slumping demand for new vehicles in the United States and Toyota said it was briefly suspending production at three plants in Japan later this month.

Investors were also nervous about the fate of the U.S. automakers trying to persuade skeptical lawmakers to save their troubled industry with $34 billion in emergency aid.

"There are so many reasons to be worried," said Katsuhiko Kodama, senior strategist at Toyo Securities in Tokyo.

Major bourses in Europe opened higher with Britian's FTSE-100 up 1.5 percent at 4,230.61, Germany's DAX gaining 2.2 percent to 4,667.89 and France's CAC-40 up 1.7 percent at 3,221.56.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dipped 0.6 percent to 13,509 points, but mainland China's Shanghai Composite index rose 1.8 percent to 2001.5 on news that a government fund had bought shares in a major bank.

New Zealand's share index rose 0.9 percent after the central bank slashed its cash rate by a record 1.5 percentage points.