Asian stocks cheer US hiring data

Asian stock markets rose sharply in early trading on Monday, boosted by stronger-than-expected US hiring figures for July following three months of weak job gains. A weekend statement by the People’s Bank of China indicating it would intensify policy fine-tuning also helped investment sentiment by raising hopes for more monetary easing, analysts said. “It seems that policy focus in China has indeed shifted quite dramatically towards supporting growth,” Dariusz Kowalczyk at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong said in a market commentary. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 1.8 percent to 8,706.85 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 2.1 per cent to 20,071.95. South Korea’s Kospi added 2 percent to 1,885.69 and Australia’s S&P ASX/200 was 1.3 percent higher at 4,257.30. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan and the Philippines also rose. Stocks finished sharply higher on Wall Street on Friday after the government said the US added 163,000 jobs last month, a turnaround following three months of sluggish hiring. Between April and June, the economy added an average of just 75,000 jobs a month compared with 226,000 jobs per month in the first three months of the year. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.7 percent to close at 13,096.17. The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 1.9 percent to 1,390.99. The Nasdaq composite index rose 2 percent to 2,967.90. From:Gulftoday