Summary Tokyo rose 1.25 percent as the yen eased against the dollar
HONG KONG (AFP) - Asian markets advanced Tuesday as most reopened after a long holiday weekend, in their first reaction to soft US jobs data that has dampened expectations of an early US interest rate rise.
Wall Street provided a positive lead Monday as comments from a Federal Reserve official suggested any increases would likely be slow, while investors await the release of minutes from the bank s latest meeting.
Tokyo rose 1.25 percent as the yen eased against the dollar. The Nikkei added 242.56 points to 19,640.54.
Sydney added 0.46 percent, or 27.4 points, to 5,926.0, although it pared early gains after the Reserve Bank of Australia disappointed many investors by holding off on an interest rate cut.
Seoul was flat, edging up 0.60 points to 2,047.03, but Samsung ended lower despite predicting better than expected first-quarter profits.
Shanghai surged 2.52 percent, or 97.45 points, to 3,961.38 -- its highest close since March 14, 2008.
Hong Kong was closed for a public holiday.
The US Labor Department said Friday the economy added just 126,000 jobs in March, half of what was expected and the weakest growth since December 2013.
While the data indicates a US slowdown, investors were cheered as it means the Fed will likely not announce any rate rise until later in the year.
The Dow climbed 0.66 percent Monday, the S&P 500 also rose 0.66 percent and the Nasdaq put on 0.62 percent.
New York Fed president William Dudley said that once rates do go up, the pace of increases is likely to be "shallow".
The news initially pushed the dollar lower against the yen but it recovered Tuesday. In Tokyo the greenback was at 119.81 yen, compared with 119.52 yen in New York and well up from 119.05 yen in Tokyo earlier Monday.
The euro bought $1.0930 and 130.80 yen on Tuesday against $1.0928 and 130.60 yen in US trade.
- Lower recovery -
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"Investors appeared to support a slower Fed rate lifting regime," Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist in Sydney at CMC Markets, said according to Bloomberg News, before adding "but this enthusiasm could be short-lived as the ramifications of a lower recovery sink in".
Oil prices edged down after surging Monday in US trade on doubts that last week s nuclear agreement between Iran and global powers would boost crude supplies soon.
"There is a realisation Iranian oil is not going to flow in the world market for quite some time," said Bart Melek, head of commodity strategy at TD Securities.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate fell 51 cents to $51.63 and Brent tumbled 54 cents to $57.58.
WTI jumped $3 and Brent surged $3.17 Monday.
Gold fetched $1,212.72 against $1,219.54 late Monday.
In other markets:
-- Taipei rose 0.43 percent, or 41.58 points, to 9,641.90.
Smartphone maker HTC rose 2.93 percent to Tw$140.5 while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. fell 0.68 percent to Tw$146.0.
-- Wellington added 0.41 percent, or 24.04 points, to 5,855.43.
Contact Energy rose 2.88 percent to NZ$6.07 while Spark New Zealand was up 0.49 percent at NZ$3.06.
-- Manila gained 0.56 percent, or 44.94 points, to 8,098.68.
Ayala Land was up 0.76 percent at 39.95 pesos, SM Investments rose 2.49 percent to 947 pesos and SM Prime Holdings gained 2.70 percent to 20.95 pesos.
-- Jakarta closed up 0.79 percent, or 43.26 points, to 5,523.29.
Palm oil producer Astra Agro Lestari rose 2.02 percent to 24,000 rupiah, while lender Bank Danamon Indonesia fell 0.10 percent to 4,995 rupiah.
-- Bangkok rose 0.88 percent, or 13.48 points, to 1,549.53
Coal producer Banpu gained 1.61 percent to 31.50 baht, while Bangkok Bank climbed 0.54 percent to 186.00 baht.
-- Mumbai rose 0.04 percent, or 12.13 points, to end at 28,516.59.
Tata Steel gained 4.89 percent to 333.60 rupees, while Axis Bank fell 1.69 percent to 558.90 rupees.
-- Kuala Lumpur gained 0.74 percent, or 13.57 points, to close at 1,856.51.
Tenaga Nasional rose 1.68 percent to 14.56 ringgit, Maybank added 0.53 percent to 9.55 ringgit, while Telekom Malaysia dipped 0.91 percent to 7.60 ringgit.
-- Singapore rose 0.37 percent, or 12.71 points, to 3,465.62.
DBS Bank declined 0.64 percent to Sg$20.32 while real estate developer Capitaland was down 0.84 percent to Sg$3.55.
