Asian markets continue mixed trend after US publishes positive jobs data

Asian markets continued to display a mixed trend on Monday, 9 November, after the US published a fall in unemployment figures. Unemployment in the US declined to 5%, near the levels economists consider to be full employment, according to official data.

Non-farm payrolls, or employment across all sectors excluding agriculture, increased by 271,000 in October. The growth was almost twice the 142,000 recorded in September and significantly higher than the 185,000 expected by economists in a Reuters poll. The US labour department also reported that wages increased by a healthy 0.4% month-on- month. Analysts said the data made prospects of a rate increase even more certain.

Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen had said in September she was confident of a US recovery amid a sluggish global economy. She also reiterated the Fed's plans to withdraw the central bank's stimulus by the year-end as long as inflation was stable and employment levels remained strong.

The Shanghai Composite index which seems to have entered a bull market recently, rising more than 20% since 26 August, continued to trade higher, closing at 3,646.88, up 1.58%. This gain follows the securities regulator's recent statement that it would allow initial public offerings (IPO) to resume after a July halt.

Japan's Nikkei 225 closed up 1.96% at 19,642.74 thanks to a sharply weaker yen against the dollar. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 1.83% at 5,119.50 at closing and South Korea's KOSPI declined 0.75% at 2,025.70. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped 0.61% to close at 22,726.77. India's BSE was trading 0.55% lower at 26,120.15. This was due to the country's ruling BJP losing the Bihar state elections.

In commodities, oil has been negatively impacted in recent times by declining demand in China and Russia's record production leading to overall decline in oil prices. WTI Crude oil declined 2.05% to $44.29 a barrel and Brent was down 1.18% at $47.42 a barrel.