Asian Shares Up as Rate Fears Ease

Shares in Asia were broadly higher Monday, as weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs data eased worries over an imminent interest-rate increase by the Federal Reserve.

The Nikkei Stock Average was up 1.0%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 1.7%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.0%, while the South Korean Kospi gained 0.9%.

The U.S. added about 151,000 jobs in August, a number unlikely to be strong enough for the U.S. Federal Reserve to move toward raising interest rates in September, analysts say.

Higher interest rates in the U.S. increase the chances of foreign capital pulling out of emerging markets.

Comments by Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda, who alluded to more room for monetary easing, also helped support buying interest in Asia late Monday morning.

"A reduction in the level of monetary policy accommodation, which is being called for by some market participants, will not be considered," Mr. Kuroda said in prepared remarks for a seminar.

Still, investors are wary that another set of strong data could swing the Fed's hand. Data from the U.S. Commerce Department in August showed sales of newly built homes rose in July to the highest level in nearly a decade.

"The fundamentals are where they are," said David Gaud, a senior fund manager at Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management. "They are probably strong enough to sustain a 25 [basis point] hike."

Negative interest rates and easy money have pushed up asset prices globally, while stock markets haven't reacted excessively to negative data or hawkish central bank commentary.

"Clearly, if you look at the valuation across stock markets, there is a fair bit of enthusiasm already," Mr. Gaud said.

Amid uncertainty over the timing of a Fed rate increase, energy and commodities-related stocks gained ground on Monday. In Australia, shares of BHP Billiton were last up 2.5%, while Rio Tinto added 1.2% and Woodside Petroleum rose 1.3%.

In Japan, shares were boosted by robust labor data released Monday that showed cash wages rising for the second straight month in July due to an increase in special bonus payments. Toyota Motor was up 0.9% and Nissan Motor gained 1.5%.

Meanwhile, South Korea's Hanjin Shipping was among the region's biggest stock decliners early Monday, with the company's shares at one point plunging by their daily limit of 30%. The stock had resumed trading after the company filed for court receivership in Seoul last week.

Hanjin's shares were last down 2.8%.

Also in South Korea, shares of Samsung Electronics rose 0.1% after declines last week amid troubles with the company's new Galaxy Note 7 smartphone.

The world's largest smartphone maker by shipments said last week it halted the phones' sales after customers reported their batteries caught fire during charging.

In early Asian trade, crude-oil prices gave up gains with Brent, the global crude benchmark, last trading down 39 cents at $46.44 a barrel. Gold, meanwhile, was up 0.1%.

Kosaku Narioka, In-Soo Nam, Megumi Fujikawa and Ese Erheriene contributed to this article.

Write to Kenan Machado at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 05, 2016 00:45 ET (04:45 GMT)

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