Asian stock markets rose yesterday following a positive lead from Wall Street, as investors look ahead to an expected Bank of England rate cut and the release of US jobs data.
Oil prices extended gains in Asia, giving a lift to energy and mining stocks after mixed data from the US Department of Energy showed crude supplies up, but falling gasoline stock.
A better-than-expected reading on US private jobs also supported a Wall Street rally, with payroll firm ADP reporting that private US companies added 179,000 jobs in July, slightly better than expected.
“Oil has once again established itself as the central thematic behind the world’s financial markets,” said Chris Weston, an analyst for IG in Melbourne. “US data was largely upbeat, with the ADP private payrolls providing some belief that today’s non-farm payrolls will not be a repeat of the woeful print we saw in May.”
The US is due to announce official job creation data for July today, with markets looking for signs that could increase the likelihood of a hike in US interest rates.
Sydney rose 0.2%, while Hong Kong also got a lift after a heavy sell-off in the previous session, ending up 0.4%.
Seoul added 0.2% while Jakarta, Manila and Bangkok were also up.
Tokyo rose 1.1% – with a weaker yen helping exporters – following a more than 3% drop in the previous two days. The greenback climbed to 101.42 yen from 101.25 yen on Wednesday in New York.
Shanghai ended up 0.1% as investors await the release of economic data next week, including on trade, investment and retail sales.
The gains in Asia came after British stocks dipped as data suggested an economic hit from the Brexit vote, just ahead of a key Bank of England policy decision.
Among the biggest gainers were Sydney-listed WorleyParsons, which ended more than 4% higher, while Origin Energy gained 2.4% and BHP Biliton climbed 1.2%.
In Hong Kong, CNOOC put on 3%. Tokyo-listed Inpex added 2.9%.
In early European trade London gained 0.1%, Frankfurt added 0.6% and Paris gained 0.5%.