Most Asian markets rose Friday in cautious trade investors looking ahead to a key U.S. jobs report for clues about the outlook for the world’s largest economy – a major export market for ’Asia.
Trading was nervous last two weeks amid concerns that the rally in world markets since March may have been exaggerated. The Chinese stock market, which has been particularly volatile, rising from the afternoon.
Top finance officials from the Group of 20 meet in London on Friday are expected to stress their commitment to promoting the global economy, although there was likely to be disagreement about when exactly to scale back efforts stimulus in the presence of increasing signs of recovery .
Investors were heartened by the modest advance Thursday on Wall Street, where markets broke a four-day slide. But many have been detained until the U.S. Department of Labor published the numbers of jobs by Friday. Economists expect the unemployment rate to edge up to 9.5 percent from 9.4 percent, while the number of redundancies is expected to ease to 225,000 from 247,000.
"The movement seems to be much sideways as investors are awaiting more data such as employment in the United States to be released this evening," said Ben Kwong Man Bun, the chief operating officer at KGI Securities.
"E ’stabilize a bit’, but there is too much uncertainty to the fact that the rebound can be sustained," he said.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 105.69 points, or 0.5 percent, to 19,867.37, while the Australia’s S & P / ASX 200 Index advanced 7.3 points, 0.1 percent, to 4,436.9. In China, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 6.03 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,851.56, after soaring 4.8 percent Thursday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index, meanwhile, slipped 27.53 points, or 0.3 percent, to 10,187.11, and South Korea Kospi slid 0.3 percent to 1,608.90.
Markets in India, Thailand and the Philippines all advanced.
U.S. stock index futures fell slightly, suggesting a tepid opening on Wall Street Friday.
In New York Thursday, stocks gained in the trade of light. The Dow Jones rose 63.94, or 0.7 percent, to 9,344.61, while the S & P 500 Index rose 8.49, or 0.9 percent, to 1,003.24. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 16.13, or 0.8 percent, to 1,983.20.
Oil prices rose, with the reference oil for October delivery gained 25 cents to $ 68.21 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In currencies, the dollar cut to ¥ 92.60 from ¥ 92.56 late Thursday in New York. The euro rose to $ 1.4264 from $ 1.4254.
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