Strong gains by Nikkei and Southeast Asia indexes
Asian markets rose in early trading Monday, following better-than-expected U.S. jobs numbers Friday and an extension of oil-production cuts by OPEC and its allies on Saturday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 NIK, +1.37% was up 1.2% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HSI, +0.02% advanced 0.3%. The Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, +0.23% rose 0.3% and the smaller-cap Shenzhen Composite 399106, +0.01% edged up 0.2%. South Korea’s Kospi 180721, +0.11% inched up 0.1%, and benchmark indexes in Taiwan Y9999, +1.14% , Singapore STI, +1.65% and Indonesia JAKIDX, +2.48% posted solid gains. Markets in Australia were closed for a holiday.
On Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said the U.S. regained 2.5 million jobs in May and the unemployment rate fell to 13.3%, although the agency said the unemployment rate would be three percentage points higher if household forms had been completed correctly. Still, the numbers indicated a post-pandemic economic recovery has already begun.
Crude-oil futures were rising Sunday night after OPEC and allied nations agreed Saturday to extend a production cut of nearly 10 million barrels of oil a day through the end of July.