By Daniel Inman
Asian stock markets were mostly higher on Monday and the dollar
weakened against a number of regional currencies, after a
disappointing U.S. labor report.
U.S. job growth slowed markedly in December, with just 74,000
jobs created in the world's largest economy in December, compared
with growth of 200,000 or more in the prior two months, according
to data released on Friday after the Asian trading session. This
was significantly below expectations of a 200,000 gain and could
prove to be a stumbling block for the Federal Reserve's plans to
scale back its bond-buying program this year.
As a result, the dollar declined against other currencies on
Friday--a trend that continued on Monday. The greenback dropped to
Yen103.57 against the Japanese yen, compared with Yen104.17 late
Friday in New York.
Against South Korea's won, the dollar fell to KRW1057.00
compared with KRW1061.65, and the U.S. currency fell against
Malaysia's ringgit to MYR3.2524 from MYR3.2645 at the end of last
week.
The Australian dollar on Monday extended its sharp rise from
late last week, and moved higher to US$0.9020 from US$0.8996 at the
end of last week, after the number of Australian home-loan
approvals in November rose by a little better more than expected,
with a seasonally adjusted 1.1% gain from October.
Regional stock markets edged higher as the weak U.S. jobs data
raised the possibility that the Fed could rollback its bond-buying
program more slowly than expected. The central bank's stimulus is
credited by many for supporting global markets for much of
2013.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.5%, South Korea's Kospi added
0.7%, and Singapore's Straits Times Index rose by 0.1%. The
Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.3%. Japanese markets were shut
for a public holiday.
Australia's S&P ASX 200 lost 0.2%, though mining stocks
managed to rise after the sector underperformed the index last
week. Rio Tinto added 0.5% and BHP Billiton was 0.7% higher.
In corporate news, shares in telecommunications company Telstra
Corp. fell 0.1% in Sydney after the firm agreed to sell 70% of its
Sensis directories business for A$454 million to U.S.
private-equity firm Platinum Equity.
Write to Daniel Inman at daniel.inman@wsj.com