Shares in Asia rose before a monthly U.S. payrolls report that will help define the path forward for Federal Reserve interest rates.
Equity benchmarks in Australia, Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong all climbed. Futures contracts for the two U.S. benchmarks were little changed in early Asian trading. China markets remain shut for a weeklong holiday.
The S&P 500 fell 0.1% Thursday while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 slipped 0.4%, though both were well off their lows for the day.
Brent crude prices were trading below $85 a barrel, and WTI crude was below the $83 mark. The yield on the 10-year U.S. bond was trading at 4.73% and Bitcoin was above the $27,000 level.
At 8:05 a.m., the GIFT Nifty, an early indicator of the Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, was up 5.5 points, or 0.03%, at 19,610.5.
India’s benchmark stock indices snapped two days of losses to end higher on Thursday, led by advances in Larsen & Toubro Ltd. and ICICI Bank Ltd. Media, information technology, and consumer durables rose, while public sector banks fell.
Overseas investors remained net sellers of Indian equities for the 12th consecutive session on Thursday. While foreign portfolio investors sold stocks worth Rs 1,864.2 crore, domestic institutional investors mopped up equities worth Rs 521.4 crore, according to provisional data from the National Stock Exchange.
The local currency weakened two paise to close at Rs 83.26 against the U.S. dollar on Thursday.
