Asia shares broadly up after US, Japan, China data

FE Team | Published: June 10, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

HONG KONG, June 9 (AFP): Asian markets mostly rose Monday, buoyed by another record close on Wall Street in response to an impressive US jobs report, an upward revision of Japanese economic growth and healthy Chinese export figures.
The euro ticked up as the upbeat outlook provided enough confidence for traders to look into higher yielding, higher risk assets.
Tokyo rose 0.31 per cent, or 46.76 points, to 15,124.00 -- a three-month high-while Hong Kong gained 0.79, or 166.47 points, to 23,117.47.
Shanghai was flat, edging up 0.55 points to 2,030.50 but Seoul eased 0.27 per cent, or 5.44 points, to 1,990.04.
Sydney was closed for a public holiday.
US shares continued their recent run of records on Friday after the Labor Department said the world's biggest economy added a net 217,000 jobs in May, in line with expectations.
Economists cheered the solid report, which marked the fourth straight month that more than 200,000 jobs had been created.
The figures are the latest in a string of data out of the United States indicating its economic recovery is well on track, even as the Federal Reserve winds down its multi-billion-dollar stimulus programme.
The Dow climbed 0.52 per cent and the S&P 500 jumped 0.46 per cent, both ending at record highs. The tech-rich Nasdaq added 0.59 per cent to close at its best level since mid-March.
On Monday, Japan unveiled revised data showing its economy grew 1.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2013 as consumers stepped up shopping before April's sales tax rise-the strongest in more than two years.
On an annualised basis-a hypothetical figure that stretches the pace of growth over the course of a year-the economy grew 6.7 per cent.
Sunday saw China release figures showing the country's key exports jumped seven per cent in May, much better than the 0.9 per cent seen in April and in line with forecasts of 7.2 per cent.
However, imports dipped surprisingly, meaning the trade surplus surged 75 per cent year on year to $35.92 billion, much more than expectations of $23.4 billion.
The results came a week after reports showed a solid increase in manufacturing activity, easing concerns about the strength of the Asian economic giant and key driver of global growth.
On foreign exchange markets the yen, considered a safe bet in times of uncertainty, eased against the euro.
The euro briefly topped 140 yen in morning Tokyo trade before easing back to 139.84 yen, although that is still up from the 139.80 yen in late New York trade Friday.
The single currency was also at $1.3650 against $1.3641.
The greenback, however, gave up earlier gains to buy 102.43 yen compared with 102.50 yen.
In oil trade US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate for July delivery, gained 40 cents to $103.06 a barrel in afternoon trade, while Brent North Sea crude for July rose 28 cents to $108.89.
Gold fetched $1,255.94 an ounce at 1105 GMT compared with $1,251.85 late Friday.
Singapore closed 0.17 per cent higher, or 5.77 points, to 3,305.20. Singapore Telecommunications gained 0.52 per cent to Sg$3.88 while United Overseas Bank eased 0.26 per cent to Sg$22.68.