Most Asian stocks up after Bernanke comments; Nikkei down 0.03%

Most Asian stocks traded higher Thursday after getting some help from comments made after the close of U.S. markets Wednesday by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Those remarks implied that the end of U.S. monetary easing is not as near as previously thought, which was enough to send the dollar into a tailspin. 

In Asian trading Thursday, Japan’s Nikkei 255 inched down 0.03% asUSD/JPY traded lower. Earlier Thursday, data showed Japan's core machinery orders rose 10.5% in May following an 8.8% decrease in April. The May reading easily topped economists’ expectations for a 1.3% increase. 

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 1.94% while the Shanghai Composite added 1.35% after Bernanke said the Fed’s accommodative monetary policy is needed over the near-term, quelling speculation that the central bank could begin tapering its USD85 billion-per-month easing program as soon as September. 

While data from the U.S. labor market, manufacturing sector, housing industry and other sectors of the economy have come in better than expected recently, Bernanke noted the U.S. unemployment rate of 7.6% may belie the job market’s actual strength, indicating that last week’s stronger-than-expected June jobs report did not factor into his comments. 

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained more than 1% after the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that employers there added 10,300 jobs last month following the loss of 700 jobs in May. The June reading easily beat economists’ estimates that called for the loss of 2,500 jobs. 

The Bureau of Statistics added that Australia's unemployment rate rose to 5.7% from 5.6% in May. The May reading was revised from 5.5%. Analysts had expected Australian unemployment rate to rise to 5.6% last month. 

New Zealand’s NZSE 50 inched down 0.02% while Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 1.31%. 

South Korea’s Kospi climbed 2.14% after the Bank of Korea left interest rates in Asia’s fourth-largest economy unchanged at 2.5% for a second straight month. 

S&P 500 futures rose 0.89% a day after the benchmark U.S. index inched up 0.02%.