SINGAPORE – Asia-Pacific stocks mixed in trade on Monday morning following data released on Friday on jobs that fell far short of expectations.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 led gains among the region’s major markets, rising 1.17% in morning trading. The Topix advanced 0.94%.
Elsewhere, Kospi, South Korea, fell 0.13%. In Australia, the S & P / ASX 200 dropped 0.5%.
MSCI’s broader Asia-Pacific stock index outside of Japan traded 0.07% lower.
Investors will watch the actions in Thailand on Monday after the country’s prime minister and several other cabinet ministers survived the censure vote in parliament over the weekend, Reuters reported.
U.S. job data released on Friday exceeded expectations, with the economy only adding 235,000 positions in August. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 720,000 new contracts.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate fell to 5.2% from 5.4%, in line with estimates.
“In our view, the setback in the labor market recovery and the jump in serious covid infections will encourage the FOMC to wait before it announces it will reduce monthly asset purchases. We now expect the FOMC to announce a 10 billion reduction of US dollars its monthly asset purchases at the Nov. 3 meeting, “Commonwealth Bank of Australia analysts wrote in a note Monday.
Coins and oils
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, stood at 92,109 after a recent slide above 92.4.
The Japanese yen traded at 109.75 per dollar, stronger than the levels above the 110.1 seen against the green dollar last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7441, after falling below $ 0.732 last week.
Oil prices were lower in the morning of business hours in Asia, and international benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.95% to $ 71.92 a barrel. US crude oil futures fell 0.91% to $ 68.66 a barrel.