Asian equities on Friday rose following a robust performance on Wall Street ahead of a key US jobs data release.
A below-forecast reading on US private jobs offered some support to New York, even as inflation and interest rate hike concerns remained major headaches.
While observers said the reading from payroll firm Automatic Data Processing Inc was not usually a good guide for the official report, it was hoped a soft number on Friday could give the US Federal Reserve a little room to ease off its rate hike drive and provide a much-needed boost to sentiment.
“Seemingly, anything that keeps the Fed from a more aggressive rate-hiking path appears to be greeted with open arms by equities,” SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said.
However, the jobs report’s release later on Friday ate into hopes for a pause in the US Federal Reserve’s policy tightening.
US employers added 390,000 jobs last month, a sign of a slowdown in hiring, but still above forecasts amid a shortage of workers, the US Department of Labor said, adding that the unemployment rate held steady at 3.6 percent for the third consecutive month.
Still, a rally in beaten-down tech firms on Thursday helped drive healthy gains on Wall Street, and Asia managed to ride on the coattails on Friday.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.27 percent to 27,761.57, increasing 3.66 percent from a weak earlier, while the broader TOPIX gained 0.35 percent to 1,933.14, up 2.43 percent on the week.
South Korea’s KOSPI gained 0.44 percent to 2,670.65, rising 1.24 percent weekly, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.88 percent to 7,238.8, up 0.78 percent on the week.
India’s SENSEX bucked the trend, dipping 0.09 percent to 55,769.23, but still posted a weekly gain of 1.61 percent.
Trading was closed in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei for the Dragon Boat Festival holiday.
Taiwan’s TAIEX closed down 0.73 percent at 16,552.57 on Thursday, up 1.76 percent from Friday last week.
Analysts remain on edge about the near-term outlook owing to uncertainty caused by a range of issues including Russia’s war in Ukraine and China’s economic travails.
“We believe a slight lean toward defensive sectors and away from the growth-oriented areas of this market still make sense,” LPL Financial technical market strategist Scott Brown said. “Outside of this recent rally, very little about this market has changed from a technical standpoint and that makes us wary of calling the all-clear.”
Additional reporting by staff writer
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