Asian Stocks Gain as Sentiment Improves

Sentiment in the Asian and Pacific Rim was mainly upbeat Friday morning. Traders are waiting on key labor data out of the United States due out during the North American trade session.

Overnight the Nasdaq 100 moved out of bear territory and into the green for the year.

The Asian benchmark in Japan, the Nikkei 225, led the region higher as this benchmark tacked on 1.64 percent. Shares of Fast Retailing jumped two percent as did shares of the technology giant, Softbank.

The broader Topix index, in Tokyo added 1.43 percent by the late morning, Hong Kong time (HKT).

Across the Korean Strait in Seoul, South Korea, the benchmark Kospi composite index was up 1.3 percent. Elsewhere in the Asian and Pacific Rim, the Australian ASX 200 was up three quarters of a percent (0.75).

Today, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), released their monthly statement on monetary policy. The Australian central bank says that the global gross domestic product (GDP) is “expected to fall sharply in the first half of 2020.”

In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index added 0.9 percent and on the mainland, in China, the equity bourses were trading higher by late morning. The Shanghai composite added 0.62 percent and the smaller Shenzhen composite was up 0.97 percent.

Asian Traders wait on Key U.S. Labor Data

The main economic event, for Friday, will be released at 8:15 am EST. The U.S. Labor Department will publish their non-farm payroll (NFP) report for April. The average forecast is for the world’s largest economy to lose 20 million jobs for the month with the unemployment rate spiking to 16 percent.

The United States will also release average hourly earnings and the labor participation rate. Canada is also publishing key labor data for the month of April. This includes the monthly unemployment change and monthly unemployment rate.

Germany will release their monthly trade balance during the European trade session.