HONG KONG: Asian markets mostly rose on
Friday and the dollar held on to its New York gains after
better-than-expected jobs data raised hopes for a strong payrolls report
later in the day.
While the crisis in Ukraine is still to be resolved, investors are focused on economic fundamentals, with confidence boosted by upbeat comments on the eurozone from the European Central Bank (ECB), while Wall Street saw another record close.
Tokyo rose 0.92 per cent, or 139.32 points, to 15,274.07 and Sydney added 0.30 per cent, or 16.4 points, to 5,462.3 while Seoul finish flat, edging down 0.94 points to 1974.68 owing to a late sell-off.
Shanghai edged a touch lower, dipping 1.67 points to end at 2,057.91 while Hong Kong eased 0.19 per cent, or 42.48 points, to 22,660.49.
In the United States, the Labour Department said first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to a three-month low of 323,000 from the prior week’s revised reading of 349,000. Analysts had expected the claims to fall to just 338,000.
The figure was a “sign companies are holding on to their staff even as cold weather threatens to slow the world’s largest economy”, said Spreadex analyst Lee Mumford.
It also provided hope that Friday’s closely watched non-farm payrolls report for February will show a sharp improvement from the previous two months, which came in well below forecasts owing to a severe winter snap across most of the country.
The S&P 500 rose 0.17 per cent to a record high and the Dow added 0.38 per cent, but the Nasdaq dipped 0.13 per cent.
Draghi upbeat on eurozone:
The dollar also rallied to 102.98 yen late Thursday in New York, from 102.72 yen earlier in Tokyo.
In afternoon Asian trade, the greenback was at 102.95 yen.
However, US shares lost much of the gains after President Barack Obama laid down a tough challenge to Moscow’s support for a referendum in Ukraine’s Crimea on joining Russia.
“The proposed referendum on the future of Crimea would violate the Ukrainian constitution and violate international law,” Obama said.
His comments come as the United States and Russia try to resolve the crisis in Eastern Europe, which flared when Russian lawmakers agreed to sending troops into the mainly Russian-speaking Crimean peninsula after the ousting of Ukraine’s pro-Moscow government.
The ex-Soviet state is in danger of breaking apart after Crimea’s parliament unanimously voted to join Russia, in a sharp escalation of the worst East-West security crisis since the Cold War.
Washington has slapped visa bans on Russians and Ukrainians involved in the Crimean incursion, the latest series of moves by the US administration to punish Moscow, while the European Union has also imposed punitive measures including freezing visa and financial talks.
However, global investors remain upbeat, and buying sentiment was given further support after the ECB held interest rates unchanged and its head, Mario Draghi, gave an optimistic appraisal of the economy.
“A gradual recovery in domestic and external demand is expected to be the driving factor behind the projected increase in activity,” Draghi said, after the ECB raised its 2014 growth forecast by 0.1 percentage point to 1.2 per cent.
The euro surged in US trade and on Friday maintained those gains, sitting at $1.3869 and 142.75 yen compared with $1.3861 and 142.88 yen late in New York.
Oil prices were slightly higher. New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate for April delivery, rose 12 cents to $101.68 in afternoon Asian trade. Brent North Sea crude for April was flat at $108.10.
Gold fetched $1,348.48 an ounce at 0820 GMT compared with $1,335.26 late Thursday.
In other markets:
– Taiwan edged up 0.17 points to 8,713.96. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. rose 1.33 per cent to Tw$114.5 while Hon Hai was 0.36 per cent higher at Tw$84.7.
– Wellington advanced 0.21 per cent or 10.86 points to a record high of 5,125.65.
– Kathmandu jumped 4.66 per cent to NZ$3.59 and Fletcher Building gained 1.02 per cent to NZ$9.90.
– Manila closed 0.54 per cent lower, giving up 34.99 points to 6,481.83. Philippine Long Distance Telephone eased 0.14 per cent to 2,800.00 pesos, Bank of the Philippine Islands gave up 0.33 per cent to 92.00 pesos and BDO Unibank ended 0.30 per cent down at 84.25 pesos.
While the crisis in Ukraine is still to be resolved, investors are focused on economic fundamentals, with confidence boosted by upbeat comments on the eurozone from the European Central Bank (ECB), while Wall Street saw another record close.
Tokyo rose 0.92 per cent, or 139.32 points, to 15,274.07 and Sydney added 0.30 per cent, or 16.4 points, to 5,462.3 while Seoul finish flat, edging down 0.94 points to 1974.68 owing to a late sell-off.
Shanghai edged a touch lower, dipping 1.67 points to end at 2,057.91 while Hong Kong eased 0.19 per cent, or 42.48 points, to 22,660.49.
In the United States, the Labour Department said first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to a three-month low of 323,000 from the prior week’s revised reading of 349,000. Analysts had expected the claims to fall to just 338,000.
The figure was a “sign companies are holding on to their staff even as cold weather threatens to slow the world’s largest economy”, said Spreadex analyst Lee Mumford.
It also provided hope that Friday’s closely watched non-farm payrolls report for February will show a sharp improvement from the previous two months, which came in well below forecasts owing to a severe winter snap across most of the country.
The S&P 500 rose 0.17 per cent to a record high and the Dow added 0.38 per cent, but the Nasdaq dipped 0.13 per cent.
Draghi upbeat on eurozone:
The dollar also rallied to 102.98 yen late Thursday in New York, from 102.72 yen earlier in Tokyo.
In afternoon Asian trade, the greenback was at 102.95 yen.
However, US shares lost much of the gains after President Barack Obama laid down a tough challenge to Moscow’s support for a referendum in Ukraine’s Crimea on joining Russia.
“The proposed referendum on the future of Crimea would violate the Ukrainian constitution and violate international law,” Obama said.
His comments come as the United States and Russia try to resolve the crisis in Eastern Europe, which flared when Russian lawmakers agreed to sending troops into the mainly Russian-speaking Crimean peninsula after the ousting of Ukraine’s pro-Moscow government.
The ex-Soviet state is in danger of breaking apart after Crimea’s parliament unanimously voted to join Russia, in a sharp escalation of the worst East-West security crisis since the Cold War.
Washington has slapped visa bans on Russians and Ukrainians involved in the Crimean incursion, the latest series of moves by the US administration to punish Moscow, while the European Union has also imposed punitive measures including freezing visa and financial talks.
However, global investors remain upbeat, and buying sentiment was given further support after the ECB held interest rates unchanged and its head, Mario Draghi, gave an optimistic appraisal of the economy.
“A gradual recovery in domestic and external demand is expected to be the driving factor behind the projected increase in activity,” Draghi said, after the ECB raised its 2014 growth forecast by 0.1 percentage point to 1.2 per cent.
The euro surged in US trade and on Friday maintained those gains, sitting at $1.3869 and 142.75 yen compared with $1.3861 and 142.88 yen late in New York.
Oil prices were slightly higher. New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate for April delivery, rose 12 cents to $101.68 in afternoon Asian trade. Brent North Sea crude for April was flat at $108.10.
Gold fetched $1,348.48 an ounce at 0820 GMT compared with $1,335.26 late Thursday.
In other markets:
– Taiwan edged up 0.17 points to 8,713.96. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. rose 1.33 per cent to Tw$114.5 while Hon Hai was 0.36 per cent higher at Tw$84.7.
– Wellington advanced 0.21 per cent or 10.86 points to a record high of 5,125.65.
– Kathmandu jumped 4.66 per cent to NZ$3.59 and Fletcher Building gained 1.02 per cent to NZ$9.90.
– Manila closed 0.54 per cent lower, giving up 34.99 points to 6,481.83. Philippine Long Distance Telephone eased 0.14 per cent to 2,800.00 pesos, Bank of the Philippine Islands gave up 0.33 per cent to 92.00 pesos and BDO Unibank ended 0.30 per cent down at 84.25 pesos.
