Asian Markets Rally As US Rate Expectations Fade

HONG KONG, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News -5th Sep,2016) - Asian stock markets rallied Monday as a slowdown in US jobs creation doused expectations for an interest rate hike this month while at the same time showing the world's top economy was still improving.

The much-anticipated reading on Friday showing 151,000 new posts in August was below expectations but indicated hiring remained solid. Before its release analysts had marked the reading as a guide to the Federal Reserve's plans for monetary policy after the bank's boss Janet Yellen -- and later her vice chairman Stanley Fischer -- suggested a rate rise could come this year.

While most market-watchers suggested the below-par reading was likely to mean the Fed will hold off moving this month, there are still some who think a hike could still come soon, providing support to the dollar.

"Markets hardly took it as a bad number, with conjecture from both sides of the fence on what it means for the Fed," Cameron Bagrie, chief economist in Wellington at ANZ Bank New Zealand, said in a research note.

"Our take is that the (Fed policy committee) will continue to proceed cautiously, with a September rate hike a tad early." In morning trade the Dollar bought 103.94 Yen from 103.99 yen in New York and sharply up from 103.60 yen in Asia earlier Friday. The weaker yen lifted Japanese stocks, with the Nikkei ending the morning up 1.3 percent.