Japan leads gains as Asia stocks rise ahead of U.S. jobs data
Shares in Asia-Pacific rose on Friday as several major regional markets were closed for a holiday and investors looked ahead to the release of U.S. jobs data for May.
Japanese stocks led gains among the region’s major markets, with the Nikkei 225 gaining 1.27% on the day to 27,761.57 as shares of Fast Retailing soared 5.86%. The Topix index rose 0.35% to 1,933.14.
The Kospi in South Korea edged 0.44% higher to close at 2,670.65, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.88% to end its trading day at 7,238.80.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.51% higher.
“It is premature, if not incorrect, to suggest that the bearish sentiment in markets may have peaked. We have argued, in our daily and ad-hoc publications, that bouts of optimism in a bear market are par for the course,” Lavanya Venkateswaran, an economist at Mizuho Bank, wrote in a Friday note.
Markets in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan were closed on Friday for a holiday.
Overnight on Wall Street, the three major indexes stateside snapped two-day losing streaks. The S&P 500 jumped 1.84% to 4,176.82. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 435.05 points, or 1.33%, to 33,248.28. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surged 2.69% to 12,316.90.
U.S. jobs data for May is set to be out at 8:30 p.m. HK/SIN on Friday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones see 328,000 jobs added in May, a 100,000 decline from April.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 101.719 following a volatile week so far that has seen it going from below 101.6 to above 102.4.
The Japanese yen traded at 129.92 per dollar, weaker as compared with levels below 128 seen against the greenback earlier this week, The Australian dollar was at $0.7252 after a recent jump from below $0.721.
