The stock indexes of the largest countries in the Asia-Pacific region (APR) mostly rose in trading on Thursday, with the exception of the Hong Kong indicator.
Optimistic statistics on the increase in the number of jobs in the United States, published yesterday, dampened hopes that the US Federal Reserve may slow down the pace of tightening interest rates, writes MarketWatch. This put some pressure on stock markets.
The number of jobs in the US private sector in September increased by 208 thousand compared to August, according to the ADP Research Institute. Analysts polled by Dow Jones estimated an increase of 200,000. In August, the number of jobs increased by 185,000, and not by 132,000, as previously reported.
Traders are now waiting for the US Department of Labor September labor market report, which will be released on Friday at 3:30 pm. Experts estimate the unemployment rate in the country last month at 3.7%, the same as in August, and the increase in the number of new jobs in the economy as a whole at 250,000, writes Trading Economics.
Market participants also evaluated the OPEC + decision.
Ministers of the OPEC+ countries at a meeting on Wednesday decided to reduce the alliance’s total oil production quota in November by 2 million bpd.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 rose 0.7% by the close of trading.
The Bank of Japan confirmed its view that most regions of the country are showing moderate economic growth. The regulator left unchanged the assessment of eight out of nine regions and improved the assessment for one region.
The growth leaders among the components of the index are the shares of the IT company Rakuten Group Inc. (+4.6%), Credit Saison Co. Ltd. (+3.3%), a credit card company, and pharmaceutical company Eisai Co. Ltd. (+2.9%).
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.4%.
The drop leaders in the index are the shares of the pharmaceutical company Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. (-7.6%), automaker Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. (-3.8%) and developer Country Garden Holdings Co. Ltd. (-3.6%).
Shares of Chinese lithium battery manufacturer CALB Co. completed the debut auction in Hong Kong, practically unchanged in price. The papers started trading at the level of the placement price, and then went into the red, where they were for the main part of the session, but by the close of trading they again returned to the level of 38 Hong Kong dollars ($4.84) per share.
Exchanges in mainland China are closed due to the National Day holidays.
The South Korean Kospi index rose by 1%.
The market value of one of the world’s largest chip manufacturers Samsung Electronics Co. increased by 0.5%, automaker Hyundai Motor – by 0.6%.
The Australian S&P/ASX 200 added 0.03%.
Shares of the world’s largest mining companies BHP and Rio Tinto increased by 0.6% and 0.2%, respectively.
