Japan Shares Lead Asian Stocks Higher on Weaker Yen; Oil Climbs
Bloomberg News
Asian stocks rose, with the regional index headed for its longest streak of daily gains since December, as Japanese shares rallied on a weaker yen. Oil rose to its highest level this year while the Australian and New Zealand dollars retreated against the greenback.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 0.4 percent, rising for a fourth day, at 9:15 a.m. in Tokyo. Japan's Topix index climbed 1.3 percent while Standard & Poor's 500 Index (SPX) futures lost 0.1 percent after the U.S. gauge rallied 1.3 percent on Feb. 7. The yen weakened 0.2 percent versus the dollar, while the Aussie and Kiwi slid 0.1 percent. Oil added 0.5 percent after breaking above $100 a barrel for the first time this year in New York last week.
Japan reported a record current account deficit for December today. China's central bank said on Feb. 8 that markets will have to tolerate further volatility in money markets as it reins in credit growth. Federal Reserve chairman Janet Yellen takes center stage on Capitol Hill tomorrow, delivering her first semi-annual monetary testimony as markets weigh how mixed economic reports last week will affect the central bank's plan for reducing stimulus.
'The U.S. recovery is in question, making the testimony by the new Fed Chair Yellen tomorrow night a focus,' ANZ Bank New Zealand Ltd. analysts including Wellington-based Sharon Zollner wrote in a client note today. U.S. equities rose after jobs growth was slower than forecast 'presumably reckoning that the potential delaying impact on tapering outweighs what it suggests about general economic momentum. Bad news is still good news for some, it appears.'
Almost four stocks rose for each that retreated on the MSCI Asia-Pacific measure, which last week capped a sixth straight weekly loss, the longest streak since June 2011.
A 113,000 gain in U.S. employment in January trailed the median estimate of 180,000 in a Bloomberg survey, while the jobless rate dropped to 6.6 percent, the lowest since October 2008, Labor Department figures showed on Feb. 7. The Fed last month said it will press on with a second reduction to its monthly bond buying, by $10 billion to $65 billion, citing an improvement in the labor market.
To contact the reporters on this story: Kyoungwha Kim in Singapore at kkim19@bloomberg.net; Candice Zachariahs in Sydney at czachariahs2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net
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