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Asian markets closed mixed yesterday after lower-than-expected US jobs growth sounded a warning about the recovery of the world’s biggest economy.
Investors broadly failed to follow Wall Street, which closed last week on record highs despite the job figures indicating that growth remains sluggish.
Tokyo fell 1.44% or 208.12 points to close at 14,258.04, Seoul dropped 0.37% or 7.16 points to 1,916.22, and Sydney fell 0.11% or 5.5 points to 5,111.3.
But Shanghai rose 1.04% or 21.06 points to 2,050.48 and Hong Kong edged up 0.14% or 31.04 points to 22,222.01.
Chinese dairy producers led the gains on hopes a scandal involving tainted whey products from New Zealand industry giant Fonterra could turn customers toward domestic brands.
Biostime International Holdings jumped 9.8% higher and China Modern Dairy Holdings rose 9.7%.
Indonesia’s stock market is closed for a week, starting yesterday, for the Eid al-Fitr holiday.
The dollar fetched ¥98.76 in afternoon Asian trade, almost flat from ¥98.89 in New York Friday, but sharply down from around ¥99.50 in Tokyo on Friday.
The euro bought $1.3274 and ¥131.11 yesterday against $1.3279 and ¥131.35 in US trade.
Hiroichi Nishi, general manager of equities at SMBC Nikko Securities, said there was “some caution over stocks having risen too sharply” in previous sessions.
Still, “falls are likely to be limited as uncertainty has broadly receded over the global economic outlook in recent weeks”, he added.
Oil prices turned higher yesterday on upbeat economic data from China released over the weekend.
New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in September, gained 30¢ to $107.24 a barrel in afternoon trade, and Brent North Sea crude for September rose 25¢ to $109.20. “The HSBC purchasing managers’ index for the services industry in China remains in an expansionary region, and this has provided support for crude prices,” Lee Chen Hoay, investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore, told AFP.
Gold cost $1,310.25 at 1030 GMT, compared with $1,289late on Friday.
In other markets, Bangkok added 0.24%, or 3.37 points, to 1,424.31; Kuala Lumpur gained 0.15%, or 2.63 points, to 1,785.14; Manila fell 0.37%, or 24.22 points, to 6,509.73; Singapore slid 0.38%, or 12.34 points, to 3,241.79; Taipei rose 0.48%, or 38.75 points, to 8,138.63; Wellington climbed 0.14%, or 6.59 points, to 4,589.49.