Asian stocks held near a one-year high and the dollar maintained losses from the last session as speculation lingered that the American jobs market isn’t quite strong enough to warrant a U.S. interest-rate increase this month.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was little changed following its biggest gain in four weeks. Japan’s Topix index rose to a three-month high, South Korea’s Kospi index was near its highest close in more than a year and New Zealand’s shares stayed near a record high.
Japanese shares rose for a fifth day as the yen held steady against the dollar and investors weighed the possibilities for stimulus from central banks.
The Topix index advanced 0.2 percent as of 9:38 a.m. in Tokyo with banks and insurers among groups contributing the most to the gain. Equities are in a holding pattern with the U.S. markets closed for the Labor Day holiday on Monday and comments by Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda leaving open to interpretation the Japanese central bank’s next monetary policy direction. The yen traded little changed against the dollar after strengthening 0.5
Reference: Bloomberg
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