Asian stocks mixed ahead of US job market update

Beijing: Asian stock markets were mixed Friday ahead of a United States job market update that traders hope might encourage the Federal Reserve to ease off plans for more interest rate hikes. Shanghai and Seoul rose while Tokyo declined. Markets in Hong Kong, India and Australia were closed for a holiday. Traders who worry higher interest rates might tip the global economy into recession looked ahead to US government data that are expected to show the job market is cooling. They hope that might prompt the Fed to decide aggressive rate hikes are no longer needed to extinguish inflation. Other data have “confirmed a clear trend that a labour market slowdown has begun,” said Edward Moya of Oanda in a report.

The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.4 per cent to 3,324.39 while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo lost less than 0.1 per cent to 27,466.88. The Kospi in Seoul rose 1.3 per cent to 2,490.37. Bangkok also gained. On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 rose 0.4 per cent on Thursday to 4,105.02 after a US government report showed fewer workers filed for unemployment benefits last week. Economists expect Friday's comprehensive non-farm payrolls report to show the number of jobs added by US employers fell to 240,000 last month from February's 311,000. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up less than 0.1 per cent to 33,485.29. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.8 per cent to 12,087.96. The US economy has been slowing under the weight of higher interest rates, but inflation still is higher than the Fed's 2 per cent target. That has led to expectations of at least a brief recession this year. Fed officials say they plan at least one more increase and then will keep rates elevated through at least the start of 2024.

However, some traders expect the US central bank to start cutting rates as early as mid-year to shore up economic growth. Markets were rattled by last month's high-profile failures of two US banks and one in Switzerland, but regulators appear to have calmed fears by promising more lending to institutions if necessary and other measures to stabilise the global financial system. There has been more fear in the bond market, where Treasury yields have sunk on worries about a weaker economy and the banking system's struggles. The 10-year Treasury yield, or the difference between the market price and the payout at maturity, slipped to 3.29 per cent from 3.31 per cent late Wednesday and from more than 4 per cent last month.