Asian stocks rallied for the first time in five days, and South Korea’s won and metals climbed amid better-than-expected U.S. economic data and optimism Europe will contain the region’s debt crisis. Nasdaq-100 Index futures declined after Apple Inc. said co-founder Steve Jobsdied.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 3 percent at 10:53 a.m. in Tokyo. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures fell less than 0.1 percent, while Nasdaq contracts dropped 0.5 percent. The won strengthened 0.3 percent. The euro was little changed at $1.3344 before European Central Bank policy makers decide on interest rates today. Copper increased 1.6 percent, while oil slid 0.1 percent in New York after a 5.3 percent jump yesterday.
Investors are awaiting employment data to gauge the strength of the U.S. economic recovery, after reports yesterday showed faster-than-forecast growth in payrolls and service industries. European Union officials are working on plans to boost bank capital to contain the debt crisis, the International Monetary Fund said. Jobs, who built the world’s most valuable technology company, died at 56.
“The market is a bit more optimistic about prospects for European policy makers to find a solution, particularly with the solvency of European banks,” said Tim Schroeders, who helps manage $1 billion in equities at Pengana Capital Ltd. in Melbourne. The latest U.S. data is “a good sign” that the economy is stabilizing, he said.
More than 11 stocks advanced for every one that fell on MSCI’s Asia Pacific Index, helping the gauge snap a four-day, 6 percent slump.Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 1.9 percent, Australia’s S&P/ASX Index jumped 2.9 percent and South Korea’s Kospi Index rallied 4 percent. Financial markets in China and India are closed for holidays today.
BHP, Cnooc
Gauges of raw-material producers and banks led gains among 10 industry groups on the MSCI regional index. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, rose 2.7 percent, while Korea Zinc Co. surged 9.9 percent. Cnooc Ltd., China’s largest offshore energy explorer, and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world’s biggest lender by market value, rose 7.1 percent in Hong Kong.
The S&P 500 climbed 1.8 percent yesterday, rounding off its biggest two-day rally in more than five weeks, after data from ADP Employer Services showed U.S. companies added 91,000 jobs in September and the Institute for Supply Management’s non- manufacturing index fell less than forecast.
Nonfarm Payrolls
Trading in Apple, which has a 14.6 percent weighting on the Nasdaq 100 Index, was halted before the death of Jobs was announced. He resigned as chief executive officer on Aug. 24, following years of health struggles that began in 2003, when he was diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer.
Figures today may show initial jobless claims increased to 410,000 in the week ended Oct. 1 from 391,000 the prior period, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Data tomorrow may show nonfarm payrolls climbed 59,000 last month, compared with zero growth in August, a separate survey showed. Treasury 10-year yields were little changed at 1.88 percent, after having climbed in the previous two days.
“Financial stocks around the globe are priced for a very difficult forward environment,” Brian McMahon, chief executive officer of Thornburg Investment Management, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “We do have some reasonable data points creeping in to underpin a better-than-worse-case scenario.”
Debt Crisis
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner will tell lawmakers that the European financial crisis is increasing the risks to global growth, according to testimony prepared for delivery today. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Europe’s rescue fund will only be used as a last resort to save banks and that investors may have to take deeper losses as part of a Greek rescue.
Europe’s 17-nation currency traded at 102.39 yen from 102.51 yen in New York yesterday. Policy makers will announce their decision on the ECB’s main refinancing rate later today. Six of the economists who expect a cut said the bank will lower its key rate by a half-percentage point from the current 1.5 percent. Five expect officials to cut the rate to 1.25 percent, while the rest predict no change. It’s the first time since June 2010 that economists in the survey haven’t been unanimous.
South Korea’s won rose to this week’s high of 1,181.40 per dollar. Malaysia’s ringgit strengthened 0.2 percent to 3.181 before a government report today that’s forecast to show exports grew 7.9 percent in August from a year earlier. Taiwan’s dollar rose 0.2 percent to NT$30.58.
Oil, Copper
Oil traded at $79.56 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after climbing yesterday by the most in five months. Futures surged after the U.S. Energy Department reported that crude inventories slid 4.7 million barrels last week. A gain of 1.5 million barrels was expected, according to a Bloomberg News survey.
Inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for New York-traded futures, tumbled for a 10th week to the lowest level since March 2010.
Copper for three month delivery rose 1.7 percent to $6,935.25 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange, extending yesterday’s 0.3 percent gain. Nickel gained 2.2 percent, zinc advanced 1.1 percent and aluminum added 1 percent.
(source: Bloomberg)
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06/10/2011 09:39:06 AM | 