BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mixed in Asia on Monday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 leading advances after stocks rose on Wall Street, ending last week with gains.
Oil prices rose and U.S. futures were little changed.
In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 2% to 66,890.02, pulled higher by strong gains for technology companies.
Computer chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron climbed 3.5%, while chip testing device maker Advantest rose 4.9%.
In South Korea, the
gains were more modest, as the Kospi added 0.8% to 6,305.86 as shares in major chipmakers slipped. Samsung Electronics lost 0.9%, while its smaller rival, memory chipmaker SK Hynix, lost 1.3%.
Analysts said foreign investors were selling shares in the Big Tech companies to lock in profits from recent gains and rebalance holdings into other industries, such as defense contractors.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.6% to 25,810.95, while the Shanghai Composite index was nearly unchanged at 3,941.48.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.4% to 9,231.00.
Taiwan's Taiex surged 1.8% and the Sensex in India was up 0.1%.
Oil prices rose after Israel rejected a deal announced by U.S. President Donald Trump for Gaza. Details emerged on the potential deal between Iran and Oman on managing the Strait of Hormuz as Tehran suggested that vessels linked to “hostile countries” would be barred.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels struck a government-held port on the country’s Red Sea coast, deepening fears over threats to strategic shipping routes and a potential return to civil war.
Brent crude, the international standard, gained 0.6% to $84.04 per barrel. U.S. benchmark crude advanced 0.5% to $78.58 per barrel.
On Friday, U.S. stocks rose and Treasury yields fell after the government reported that employers unexpectedly cut 23,000 jobs last month.
A weaker jobs market raised hopes the Federal Reserve might wait longer before raising interest rates to fight inflation. That buoyed share prices, pushing every major index to a second straight week of gains and several fresh records.
The S&P 500 rose 0.6% to 7,757.64, topping an all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% to 54,036.93, just short of the record it set on Wednesday. The Nasdaq composite rose 1.3% to 26,690.62.
Overall, the jobs report dimmed one of the brighter areas of the economy, adding to worries about household spending at a time of high inflation. It included a revision to the figures for June and May that involved slashing a combined 103,000 jobs from payrolls for those months.
Slowing employment complicates the Fed's effort to balance job growth with fighting inflation. Higher interest rates can help tame inflation by slowing economic growth, but businesses will find it more difficult to expand under increased borrowing rates.
As usual, technology stocks did much of the heavy lifting for the broader market. Nvidia jumped 2.3% and Broadcom rose 1.7%.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.64% from 4.67% just before the jobs update. It was as low as 4.60% before recovering a bit.
The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed action on interest rates, fell to 4.20% from 4.22% before the report's release. It was as low as 4.15% before edging back up.
This week, investors will get several important inflation updates. The most closely watched will be the consumer price index, or CPI, which measures costs for consumers. Inflation in July is forecast to have risen at a 3.4% rate, easing slightly from 3.5% in June. Inflation has held stubbornly above 3% for most of the year.
In other dealings early Monday, the U.S. dollar rose to 158.37 Japanese yen from 157.71 yen. The euro fell to $1.1553 from $1.1568.
