SINGAPORE – Stocks in Japan should rise on Monday as many major Asia Pacific markets are closed for public holidays.
Futures indicated a higher open for Japanese stocks. The Chicago Nikkei futures contract was trading at 30,025 while its Osaka counterpart was trading at 29,980. This compared to the Nikkei 225’s last closing price at 29,854.
The markets in Australia, Mainland China and Hong Kong are closed on Mondays for public holidays.
US payrolls exceed expectations
In terms of economic development, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Friday that the number of non-agricultural workers rose by 916,000 in March – well above the 675,000 increase that Dow Jones polled economists had expected.
The unemployment rate also fell to 6%, in line with the expectations of economists polled by Dow Jones.
Currencies
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback versus a basket of its peers, came in at 93.013 – up above 93.3 from late last month.
The Japanese yen was trading at 110.71 per dollar, weaker than 110.5 versus the greenback last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7609, up from the $ 0.756 level seen last week.
