Positive U.S. Jobs Data Boosts Asian Markets

The strong U.S. jobs data has inspired confidence in risk trading investors. Commodities have soared, as have the Asian stocks which are moving towards a ten-week high. Crude oil has risen for a third day. This comes in spite of the closure of the Japanese markets for a public holiday. The U.K. is closed today for a bank holiday. The markets have shrugged off the Chinese services PMI data, which has dropped to 51.1 for last month from the 54.3 reading in March.
This declined figure is not too worrying as it still ranks above the 50 mark, which is the borderline for a growing economy. It is however, the first time the figure has fallen since 2009, and the recorded new orders figureis the lowest in nearly 20 months. This comes after last week’s Chinese Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index, which contracted to 50.6 in April from 50.9 in the previous month which also came below the expected reading of 50.7.

Stocks
Another factor which has pushed up the Asian stocks is the reelection of the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, which has helped boost Malaysian stocks to their highest high of 4 years. Meanwhile, the South Korean Kospi rose 0.39 per cent, the Hong Kong Hang Seng gained 0.94 per cent and the Shanghai Composite of China climbed 0.89p per cent inspite of poor Chinese data. Australian Index S&P/ASX 200 climbed 1.3 per cent, aided by mining giants such BHP Biliton.

Forex
The dollar continued its descent, although losses were mild with the USDIX which measures the USD against all the other majors, down just 0.02 per cent. The only notable currency pair was the AUD against the USD which fell 0.31 per cent after the Australian retail sales report showed a decline of 0.4 per cent for March. The EUR gained 0.2 per cent against the USD, and the USD/JPY gained 0.08 per cent in a quiet Asian session.

Commodities
Commodities were still responding to the Jobs data, and the investor appetite for risk on assets with the Gold and Silver both gaining 0.86 per cent and 0.81 per cent respectively. Crude oil gained 1.04 per cent, and Copper, which leapt almost 7 per cent at the end of last week gained 0.06 percent at time of writing.

What to Watch Today
It will an interesting trading day of trading as the markets respond last week's data . You can expect the European stocks to climb; ECB President Mario Draghi will be speaking today, and both the U.K. and Japanese markets are closed.

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