Most Asian Aarkets up After Wall St Gains, Eyes on US Jobs

Stocks mostly rose in Asia Friday (May 1) following a strong lead from New York, while optimism about a US jobs report later in the day pushed the dollar up against the yen and euro.

The upbeat outlook was also evident in oil markets, where prices held around the US$50 mark as OPEC’s refusal to cap output was offset by a fall in US stockpiles.

With the start of June proving to be hard going, the focus is on Friday’s non-farm payrolls report from the Labor Department, which helps the Federal Reserve decide when to lift interest rates.

Expectations are high for a June or July hike after bank chair Janet Yellen last Friday said such a move could be justified “in the coming months”, citing continued US economic growth and a strengthening labour market.

US investors provided a perfect platform for their Asian counterparts with the S&P 500 ending at a seven-month high, with help from a rally in oil prices.

Tokyo was up 0.2 per cent by the break, while Hong Kong added 0.7 per cent, Sydney gained 0.6 percent and Singapore also put on 0.7 per cent. However Shanghai dipped 0.2 per cent.

“Investors are taking heart that US stocks are at such high levels, and that should lead to a rebound,” Mitsuo Shimizu, an equity strategist at Japan Asia Securities Group in Tokyo, told Bloomberg News.

“This OPEC meeting was unlike the previous ones and the selloff in oil prices has ended, that’s also giving us reason to be optimistic.”

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ failed to agree a deal to limit output at its latest twice-yearly meeting in Vienna, in line with expectations.

However, while crude prices initially fell on the news, they rebounded after official figures showed US reserves fell last week, fuelling hopes demand in the world’s top economy is picking up.

In morning trade Brent was up 0.2 per cent at US$50.12 and West Texas Intermediate gained 0.1 per cent to US$49.21.

With US borrowing costs tipped to rise this summer, the dollar has managed to hold up and on Friday it bought 109.01 yen compared with 108.88 yen in New York, while the euro dipped to US$1.1148 from US$1.1154.

KEY FIGURES AT 0230 GMT

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.2 per cent at 16,589.97 (break)

Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.2 per cent at 2,920.17

Hong Kong – Hang Seng: UP 0.7 per cent at 21,001.77

Euro/dollar: DOWN at US$1.1148 from US$1.1154 on Thursday

Dollar/yen: UP at 109.01 yen from 108.88 yen

New York – Dow: UP 0.3 per cent at 17,838.56 (close)

London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 per cent at 6,185.61 (close)

Courtesy : channelnewsasia.com