Asian stocks higher despite glum Aussie jobs data; Nikkei up 0.83%

Asian stocks are trading mostly higher at this hour, a day after U.S. equities raced to another record high despite some slack employment data out of Australia. 

In Asian trading Thursday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 is higher by 0.83% despite profit-taking in USD/JPY. In Japanese economic data out today, BoJ said that Japan’s M2 Money Stock rose 3% last month following a 2.9% increase in February. Analysts expected a march increase of 2.9%. 

In another report, the Economic and Social Research Institute said that Japan’s core machinery orders rose 7.5% in March following a 13.1% decline in February. Analysts expected a March increase of 6.8%. BoJ said that Japan’s Corporate Goods Price Index fell to a seasonally adjusted -0.5% last month from -0.1% in February. Analysts expected the index to fall to -0.4% last month. 

Japanese stocks are the top performers in Asia this year. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.84% while the Shanghai Composite inched up by 0.02%. 

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.9% after official data showed Australia’s unemployment rate rose to 5.6% last month from 5.4%. Analysts expected the number to hold steady at 5.4%. The number of employed Australians fell by 36,100 following a gain of 74,000 in February. 

Australia’s unemployment rate for March is a three-year and could be a sign that businesses in the world’s 12th-largest economy are being crimped by the strong Australian dollar. The jobs number comes just a day after the Reserve Bank of Australia indicated it believes the economy can deal with the strong Aussie. 

New Zealand’s NZSE 50 fell 0.12% and South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.16% as the two bourses stood as today’s Asian laggards. South Korean stocks are among the worst performers in the region this year. 

Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.35%. S&P 500 futures are off 0.08%.

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