SINGAPORE – Asia Pacific stocks were mixed in Monday morning trading after US employment data released on Friday fell well below expectations.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 led gains among the region’s major markets, rising 1.17% in morning trading. The Topix gained 0.94%.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.13%. In Australia, the S & P / ASX 200 lost 0.5%.
MSCI’s broadest index for Asia Pacific stocks outside of Japan was down 0.07%.
Investors will watch stocks in Thailand on Monday after the country’s prime minister and several other cabinet ministers weathered a vote of no confidence in parliament over the weekend, Reuters reported.
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US employment data released on Friday fell far short of expectations as the economy added just 235,000 jobs in August. Economists polled by Dow Jones had sought 720,000 new hires.
Meanwhile, in line with estimates, the unemployment rate fell from 5.4% to 5.2%.
“In our view, the setback in the labor market recovery and the rise in serious Covid infections will cause the FOMC to wait before announcing it will reduce its monthly security purchases. We now expect the FOMC to reduce its monthly security purchases by 10 billion at its November 3rd meeting, “Commonwealth Bank of Australia analysts wrote in a Monday note.
Currencies and oil
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback versus a basket of its competitors, hit 92.109 after falling over 92.4 recently.
The Japanese yen was trading at 109.75 per dollar, stronger than levels above 110.1 against the greenback last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7441 after climbing below $ 0.732 last week.
Oil prices were lower on the morning of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures falling 0.95% to $ 71.92 a barrel. US crude oil futures fell 0.91% to $ 68.66 a barrel.
