US jobs data lifts Asian markets

Dow Jones Newswires /Singapore

Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average was up 1.2%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was off 0.1%, and South Korea’s Kospi Composite was down 0.2% at 2079.87. Hong Kong’s Hang Sang Index was up 0.2%, Taiwan’s main index was up 0.1%, and the Shanghai Composite index was lower by 0.2% at 2831.87.

The mood in the region was cheered by US jobs data on Wednesday. Data from payroll giant Automatic Data Processing showed an addition of 297,000 private-sector jobs in December, almost triple the 100,000 job additions which analysts had expected.

Japanese stocks were also helped by the US dollar’s surge against the yen on Wednesday. "The strong jobs data fueled expectations that the (US) non-farm payrolls data to be released (Friday) may be strong as well,” said Hideyuki Ishiguro, an investment strategy supervisor at Okasan Securities.

JVC Kenwood Holdings bounced 26% after firm officially announced a capital increase plan late Wednesday. The stock had previously suffered steep losses due to concerns about share dilution.

Manufacturing and tech exporters rose, spurred by the US dollar’s gains against the yen. Fanuc was up 2.6%, Kyocera was up 2.7%, and TDK was up 2.9%.

Shares in China were led lower by coal miners hit by profit-taking. China Coal was down 1.1% after rising 6.4% in the previous four sessions, while China Shenhua Energy was off 1.2% after gaining 4.5%.

"Although China’s inflation rate may have slowed in December from the previous month, the chance of another interest rate hike is still on the cards in the short term,” said Central China analyst Zhang Gang. He expects the Shanghai index to consolidate around 2850 in the coming days.

In Australia, light trading volumes and uncertainty over the impact of the floods in the state of Queensland kept the Sydney stock market subdued.

Resources stocks were mixed, with BHP Billiton off 0.5% and Rio Tinto off 0.1% while Fortescue Metals rose 1.7%. Banks were also flat to lower, but not by much.

The South Korean stock market was lower as "investors are likely to have a stronger appetite for profit-taking, as the main index nears the 2100-level,” said Dongbu Securities analyst Yoo Kyung-ha. The Kospi was about 9% higher from the start of December.

Elsewhere in the region, Malaysian shares were off 0.2%, Singapore’s Straits Times Index was higher by 0.4%, New Zealand’s NZX-50 was up 0.1%, Indonesia’s share market off 0.7% and Thailand shares were up 0.2%.