Asian equity markets ended higher on Monday, buoyed by gains on Wall Street, following Friday’s upbeat US non-farm payrolls report, which showed that non-farm payroll employment surged up by 255,000 jobs in July after jumping by an upwardly revised 292,000 jobs in June, providing further evidence of the strength of the country's labor market. The jobs report boosted the odds of a Federal Reserve interest rate increase this year, but many believe the Fed would wait for GDP growth to improve and inflation to move closer to its 2 percent target before pulling the trigger on a rate hike. Japanese shares received some boost from a relatively weaker yen after a strong US jobs report, lifted exporters' shares. Further, Chinese shares ended higher as a surge in coal stocks and sustained interest in property shares offset the impact of worse than expected trade data. Official data on Monday showed China’s July exports in dollar terms were down 4.4% from a year earlier, following a decline of 4.8% in June.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,004.28 | 27.58 | 0.93 |
Hang Seng | 22,494.76 | 348.67 | 1.57 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,458.98 | 38.73 | 0.71 |
KLSE Composite | 1,672.68 | 8.64 | 0.52 |
Nikkei 225 | 16,650.57 | 396.12 | 2.44 |
Straits Times | 2,870.78 | 42.61 | 1.51 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,031.12 | 13.18 | 0.65 |
Taiwan Weighted | 9,150.26 | 58.14 | 0.64 |