Stock market today: Asian shares track Wall St’s advance fueled by cooler jobs data
Asian shares were largely higher on Monday after Wall Street ended last week with its best trading day in more than two months, buoyed by cooler-than-expected US employment data.
U.S. futures headed higher and oil prices rose.
The Japanese yen weakened slightly after its value fluctuated from a low of 160.25 to 151.86 against the US dollar late last week due to suspected government intervention. The dollar bought 153.93 yen, up from 152.90 yen.
Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki told the Asian Development Bank’s annual meeting in Tiblisi, Georgia, on Friday that rapid fluctuations are hurting households and businesses.
The euro rose from $1.0763 to $1.0765.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.2% to 18,447.12, while the Shanghai Composite index rose 0.9% to 3,133.92 as markets reopened after a week-long holiday. A private sector survey on Monday showed the country’s services sector grew more slowly in April due to rising costs, although new orders rose and business confidence improved.
The Australian S&The P/ASX 200 rose 0.5% to 7,669.50. Taiwan’s Taiex gained 1.2%.
The markets in Japan and South Korea were closed for holidays.
On Friday the S&The P500 rose 1.3% to 5,127.79, its best day since late February. The benchmark index has also recovered its losses for the week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2% to 38,675.68. The Nasdaq composite finished 2% higher to close at 16,156.33, reflecting strong gains from technology sector stocks, which drove much of the rally.
The country’s employers added 175,000 jobs last month, a sharp decline from March’s blockbuster increase of 315,000, the Labor Department said. The youngest workforce came in well below the increase of 233,000 that economists had predicted. Meanwhile, average hourly wages, a key driver of inflation, rose less than expected.
The modest increase in hiring last month signals that the Federal Reserve’s aggressive series of rate hikes may finally be taking a bigger toll on the world’s largest economy. That could reassure the Fed that inflation will decline further, which could bring the central bank closer to a rate cut.
Friday’s market rally was widespread, although technology stocks accounted for much of the gains. Apple rose 6% after announcing a massive $110 billion stock buyback. The tech giant late Thursday reported the steepest quarterly decline in iPhone sales since the pandemic began.
Microsoft rose 2.2% and Nvidia 3.5%.
Several companies posted profits after reporting strong quarterly results.
Amgen climbed 11.8% after the biotech company gave investors an encouraging update on a potential anti-obesity drug. Live Nation Entertainment rose 7.2% after the ticket seller and concert promoter beat analysts’ first-quarter revenue expectations.
Motorola Solutions closed 5.2% higher after the communications equipment maker raised its profit forecast for the year.
Booking Holdings rose 3% after reporting better-than-expected bookings and revenue in the first quarter. Another online travel company, Expedia Group, fared less well, despite its latest quarterly results beating Wall Street targets. Shares fell 15.3%, marking the biggest drop among S&P500 shares after lowering its full-year booking expectations as its Vrbo rental unit was slow to recover from migrating to Expedia’s platform.
In energy trading, U.S. crude rose 23 cents to $78.34 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 18 cents to $83.14 a barrel.