Asian Stocks Gain Cautiously Ahead of Jobs Report
September 4, 2009 by Trend PK
Filed under Business News
CANBERRA: Most Asian markets rose in cautious trading Friday as investors looked ahead to a key U.S. jobs report for clues about the outlook for the world’s largest economy — an important export market for Asia.
Trading has been jittery the last couple weeks amid worries that the rally in global markets since March may have been overdone. China’s stock market, which has been particularly volatile, was little changed by midday.
Investors were heartened by the modest advance Thursday on Wall Street, where markets broke a four-day slide.
But given the importance of the U.S. market to Asia, many were holding back until the U.S. Labor Department released jobs numbers later Friday. Economists expect the unemployment rate to edge up to 9.5 percent from 9.4 percent, while the number of layoffs is expected to slow to 225,000 from 247,000.
“The movement seems to be very much sideways because the investors are waiting for more indications such as the U.S. employment data to be released tonight,” said Ben Kwong Man Bun, the chief operating officer at KGI Securities.
“It’s stabilizing a bit, but there’s too much uncertainty about whether rebound can be sustained,” he said.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 78.96 points, or 0.4 percent, to 19,834.47, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index advanced 11.1 points, or 0.25 percent, to 4,440.8. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite index edged up 2.89 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,847.91, after surging 4.8 percent Thursday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index, meanwhile, sagged 55.73 points, or 0.6 percent, to 10.158.91, while South Korea’s Kospi slid 0.3 percent to 1,609.17.
U.S. stock index futures were narrowly mixed, suggesting a tepid open on Wall Street Friday.
In New York Thursday, stocks gained in light trading. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 63.94, or 0.7 percent, to 9,344.61, while the S&P 500 index climbed 8.49, or 0.9 percent, to 1,003.24. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 16.13, or 0.8 percent, to 1,983.20.
Oil prices rose, with benchmark oil for October delivery gaining 25 cents to $68.21 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In currencies, the dollar edged up to 92.62 yen from 92.56 yen late Thursday in New York. The euro was little changed at $1.4252.
Asian Stocks Gain Cautiously Ahead of Jobs Report was first posted on September 4, 2009 at 3:27 pm.
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