Asian Markets Win Ahead of US Employment Report in August WFTV

BEIJING – (AP) Asian stocks rose Thursday as investors waited for US jobs data that could impact as the Federal Reserve begins to unwind its stimulus.

Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong, which make up the bulk of Asian market capitalization, advanced. South Korea and Sydney refused.

Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index rose 0.1% on Wednesday, boosted by gains for technology and communications stocks.

The spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus and the measures to combat diseases have weighed down on recruitment and consumer confidence. But that has reassured some investors that the Fed and other central banks could delay plans to ease credit downsizing and other incentives that have supported stock prices.

The Labor Department will report US employment data for August on Friday. A Wednesday survey by payroll processor ADP found that companies added jobs less quickly than expected.

This appears to reduce the likelihood of significant outperformance in the nonfarm payrolls ahead and supports the view that the Fed winding down may not come until November, IG’s Yeap Jun Rong said in a report.

The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.4% to 3,581.94 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained less than 0.1% to 28,476.01. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.8% to 26,239.58.

The Kospi in Seoul fell 1% to 3,176.67 and the S&P-ASX 200 in Sydney lost 0.8% to 7,464.90.

New Zealand and Southeast Asian markets declined.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 1.41 points to 4,524.09. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% to 35,312.53 points. The Nasdaq climbed 0.3% to a record 15,309.38.

Economists expect U.S. employers to create 750,000 jobs in August, according to FactSet, pushing the unemployment rate to 5.2%.

The Labor Department data could give investors a clearer picture of whether the Fed will decide at its September meeting on a timeline for phasing out its $120 billion a month in bond purchases that inject money into the financial system.

Investors reacted to Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s comments last week, as reassuring interest rates will remain low for the foreseeable future, even as the Fed begins to cut bond purchases.

In the energy markets, the US benchmark fell 44 cents to $68.15 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 9 cents to $68.59 on Wednesday. Brent oil, the price base for international oils, fell 36 cents to $71.23 a barrel. It fell 4 cents to $71.59 a barrel in the previous session.

The dollar had changed little at 109.95 yen. The euro fell from $1.1846 to $1.1841.

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