A businessman walks past a share prices board flashing the Nikkei index in Tokyo. Japanese stocks closed up 1.25% at 19,640.54 points yesterday.
AFP/Tokyo
Asian markets advanced yesterday as most reopened after a long holiday weekend, in their first reaction to soft US jobs data that has dampened expectations of an early US interest rate rise.
Wall Street provided a positive lead Monday as comments from a Federal Reserve official suggested any increases would likely be slow, while investors await the release of minutes from the bank’s latest meeting.
Tokyo rose 1.25% as the yen eased against the dollar. The Nikkei added 242.56 points to 19,640.54.
Sydney added 0.46%, or 27.4 points, to 5,926.0, although it pared early gains after the Reserve Bank of Australia disappointed many investors by holding off on an interest rate cut.
Seoul was flat, edging up 0.60 points to 2,047.03, but Samsung ended lower despite predicting better than expected first-quarter profits.
Shanghai surged 2.52%, or 97.45 points, to 3,961.38 - its highest close since March 14, 2008.
Hong Kong was closed for a public holiday.
In other markets, Taipei rose 0.43%, or 41.58 points, to 9,641.90; smartphone maker HTC rose 2.93% to Tw$140.5 while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co fell 0.68% to Tw$146.0.
Wellington added 0.41%, or 24.04 points, to 5,855.43; Contact Energy rose 2.88% to NZ$6.07 while Spark New Zealand was up 0.49% at NZ$3.06.
Manila gained 0.56%, or 44.94 points, to 8,098.68; Ayala Land was up 0.76% at 39.95 pesos, SM Investments rose 2.49% to 947 pesos and SM Prime Holdings gained 2.70% to 20.95 pesos.
Jakarta closed up 0.79%, or 43.26 points, to 5,523.29; palm oil producer Astra Agro Lestari rose 2.02% to 24,000 rupiah, while lender Bank Danamon Indonesia fell 0.10% to 4,995 rupiah.
Bangkok rose 0.88%, or 13.48 points, to 1,549.53; coal producer Banpu gained 1.61% to 31.50 baht, while Bangkok Bank climbed 0.54% to 186baht.
Kuala Lumpur gained 0.74%, or 13.57 points, to close at 1,856.51; Tenaga Nasional rose 1.68% to 14.56 ringgit, Maybank added 0.53% to 9.55 ringgit, while Telekom Malaysia dipped 0.91% to 7.60 ringgit.
Singapore rose 0.37%, or 12.71 points, to 3,465.62; DBS Bank declined 0.64% to Sg$20.32 while real estate developer Capitaland was down 0.84% to Sg$3.55.
The US Labor Department said Friday the economy added just 126,000 jobs in March, half of what was expected and the weakest growth since December 2013.
While the data indicates a US slowdown, investors were cheered as it means the Fed will likely not announce any rate rise until later in the year. The Dow climbed 0.66% Monday, the S&P 500 also rose 0.66% and the Nasdaq put on 0.62%.
New York Fed president William Dudley said that once rates do go up, the pace of increases is likely to be “shallow”.
The news initially pushed the dollar lower against the yen but it recovered Tuesday. In Tokyo the greenback was at ¥119.81, compared with ¥119.52 in New York and well up from ¥119.05 in Tokyo earlier Monday.
The euro bought $1.0930 and ¥130.80 yesterday against $1.0928 and ¥130.60 in US trade.
“Investors appeared to support a slower Fed rate lifting regime,” Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist in Sydney at CMC Markets, said according to Bloomberg News, before adding “but this enthusiasm could be short-lived as the ramifications of a lower recovery sink in”.
Oil prices edged down after surging Monday in US trade on doubts that last week’s nuclear agreement between Iran and global powers would boost crude supplies soon.
“There is a realisation Iranian oil is not going to flow in the world market for quite some time,” said Bart Melek, head of commodity strategy at TD Securities.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate fell 51 cents to $51.63 and Brent tumbled 54 cents to $57.58.
WTI jumped $3 and Brent surged $3.17 Monday.
Gold fetched $1,212.72 against $1,219.54 late Monday.
