Asian stocks closed week higher as attention turns to US labor data

Asian stock indexes closed in green territory on Friday, following a strong lead from Wall Street and as market players focus on the release of US employment figures later in the day.

Australia ASX +57.10 +1.00% 5,777.40 CLOSED

Shanghai Comp +9.30 +0.28% 3,348.94 CLOSED

Hang Seng Index +2.75 +0.01% 28,381.93 OPEN

Nikkei 225 +62.15 +0.30% 20,690.71 CLOSED

TSEC 50 Index +14.54 +0.14% 10,532.81 CLOSED

No relevant reports were released in Asia. Attention is now directed to the United States, where the Department of Labor will present its September employment report as of 12:30 GMT.

Nonfarm payrolls are expected to show a 90,000 jobs build, notably below the 185,000 three-month average as the economy weighed in effects of hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Average hourly earnings are seen rising 0.3 percent last month. The unemployment rate is widely expected to remain at 4.4 percent.

Also, investors will be monitoring comments from FOMC members Bostic at 13:15 GMT, Rosengren at 15:45 GMT, Dudley at 16:15 GMT, Kaplan at 16:45 GMT and Bullard at 17:00 GMT. Investors will pay attention to their rhetoric concerning further rate increases.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.6 percent to close at 2,552.07, marking new intraday and closing record highs, with financials and information technology contributing with most gains.

American investors were cheered as the House passed a $4.1 trillion budget, putting in motion a process that GOP members hope will derive in the application of a major tax reform.

Details on the tax bill worked out by the Trump administration and the GOP leadership were unveiled last week. The reform simplifies the seven-bracket personal tax scale to only three brackets and cuts taxes for businesses and individuals.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite added 0.8 percent to 6,585.36, while the Dow Jones industrial average increased 113.75 points to end at 22,775.39.

The US Labor Department said on Thursday initial jobless claims dropped 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 60,000 in the week ended Sept 30. Analysts had estimated a 7,000 draw.

In other news, the trade deficit fell to $42.4 billion in August, narrowing by $1.2 billion from July. Exports in the August moved to $195.3 billion, while imports were $237.7 billion.

Fort Financial Services