Asian Stocks Mostly Showed Gains Following Wall Street’s Lead Driven By Moderate Jobs Data

In today’s trading session, Asian stocks witnessed predominantly upward movement, fueled by Wall Street’s strong performance last week, which marked its most impressive day in over two months. The unexpectedly moderate US employment data supported this surge. 

The Japanese yen experienced a minor decline after fluctuating from a low of 160.25 against the US dollar to 151.86 late last week, amidst speculation of government intervention. The dollar strengthened to 153.93 yen, rising from 152.90 yen. 

Japan’s stock market closed lower on Friday, with declines in the Transport, Marine Transport, and Warehousing sectors pulling down shares. 

The Nikkei 225 closed 0.10% lower at 38,236.07. The best performance of the session on the Nikkei 225 was Kansai Electric Power Co. Inc., which saw a gain of 4.98% or 119.00 points, closing at 2,510.00. In addition, Sumitomo Corp. climbed by 4.37% or 180.00 points to reach 4,300, while J. Front Retailing Co., Ltd. surged by 3.68% or 50.50 points, ending the session at 1,422.50.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong experienced a 0.2% decline, closing at 18,447.12, while the Shanghai Composite index showed a 0.9% increase, reaching 3,133.92, as markets resumed trading after a weeklong holiday. 

According to a private sector survey released on Monday, China’s services sector exhibited slower growth in April primarily attributed to escalating costs, although new orders saw an uptick and business sentiment showed improvement. 

Meanwhile, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 went up by 0.5% to 7,669.50.

Japan and South Korea’s stock markets were closed due to the holiday.