View of the headquarters of the Bank of Japan in Tokyo.
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Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Monday after a stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs report on Friday revealed hiring and wage growth picked up in May.
This adds to the narrative the Fed doesn’t have to rush to lower interest rates. Traders don’t expect the Federal Open Market Committee to cut rates at its meeting this week or the next meeting in July.
This week in Asia, investors will assess Japan’s revised first-quarter gross domestic product numbers on Monday, which came in at an annualized contraction of 1.8%. This was softer than the 2% contraction initially reported and also lower than the 1.9% revised contraction expected in a Reuters poll of economists.
Separately, the Bank of Japan’s rate decision will come on Friday, while China and India’s inflation numbers for May will be released on Wednesday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 0.67%, while the broad based Topix was up 0.8%.
In contrast, the South Korean Kospi was down 0.57% and the small cap Kosdaq slipped marginally.
A few Asian markets are closed for a holiday Monday, including Australia, mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
On Wall Street on Friday, the S&P 500 ended flat after touching an intraday record-high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.22% and the Nasdaq Composite edged down 0.23%.
Despite the losses, all three major averages notched a winning week. The Dow posted a 0.29% gain, while the S&P 500 added nearly 1.32% and the Nasdaq advanced 2.38% for the week.
Correction: This story was updated to correct the date of the Federal Reserve’s June meeting.
