Asian Stocks Climb Before U.S. Jobs as Yen Drops – 6 April, 2017
Gains in Asian equities were led by a rebound in Japanese stocks as the yen weakened and investors awaited the monthly U.S. jobs report.
Shares in Tokyo and Sydney climbed after gains in crude oil helped push energy shares higher on the S&P 500 Index. The dollar and Treasury yields held on to gains as an official said the Pentagon is actively weighing military options against Syria and U.S. President Donald Trump met with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping following a series of missile tests by North Korea’s regime. Oil traded at a one-month high. Indian assets remain in focus after the central bank unexpectedly tightened policy to step up the fight against accelerating inflation.
Focus turns to the U.S. jobs report after a week in which strong private payrolls data and weak automaker sales gave conflicting signals on the strength of economic growth. The Federal Reserve’s indication this week that it intends to shrink its $4.5 trillion balance sheet later this year underscored a shift away from injecting record amounts of cash over the past decade.
What investors will be looking out for:
- Trump and Xi continue a two-day meeting that started in Florida Thursday. Here’s an analyst roundup, hinting that markets may shrug off the talks.
- Payroll data are due in the U.S. Forecasts are for a gain of 180,000 jobs in March and the unemployment rate to hold at 4.7 percent.
- ECB Governing Council members from Ireland and France speak Friday.
Here are the main moves in markets:
- The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.4 percent as of 9:18 a.m. in Tokyo, recouping some of Thursday’s 0.8 percent slide.
- The yen fell 0.2 percent to 110.98 per dollar. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed after rising 0.2 percent on Thursday.
- Japan’s Topix index gained 1 percent, after falling 1.6 percent on Thursday. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index climbed 0.4 percent and South Korea’s Kospi was flat. Hang Seng futures were up 0.1 percent.
- Samsung Electronics shares dropped 1 percent, paring this year’s 15 surge, after reporting quarterly results.
- Futures on the S&P 500 were little changed in early trading. The gauge and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.2 percent on Thursday.
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries nudged one basis point higher Friday, but is still down from 2.39 percent at the end of last week.
Source: Bloomberg