Asian stock markets are in positive territory on Monday after U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday following the release of stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data for November. However, gains are modest in most markets in the region as investors looked ahead to the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision due on Wednesday.
The Australian market has pared early gains and is flat despite the positive cues from Wall Street on Friday following better-than-expected U.S. jobs data. Banking stocks are mixed, offsetting gains by miners and oil stocks.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is adding 2.80 points or 0.05 percent to 5,997.20, off a high of 6,015.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 3.80 points or 0.06 percent to 6,081.20.
The big four banks are mixed. ANZ Banking is down 0.2 percent and National Australia Bank is lower by 0.3 percent, while Commonwealth Bank is adding 0.6 percent and Westpac is up 0.1 percent.
The major miners are mostly higher. BHP Billiton is adding 0.2 percent, Rio Tinto is advancing almost 1 percent and Fortescue Metals is rising more than 1 percent.
Gold miners are also higher despite gold prices falling on Friday. Newcrest Mining is rising almost 1 percent and Evolution Mining is advancing more than 1 percent.
Oil stocks are gaining after crude oil prices rose Friday. Woodside Petroleum is rising more than 1 percent, Santos is advancing almost 1 percent and Oil Search is adding 0.6 percent.
Downer EDI said that a joint venture between the company and Ausenco has won a A$312 million contract for engineering, procurement and construction work at Oz Minerals' Carrapateena copper gold mine project in South Australia. However, shares of Downer EDI are edging down 0.1 percent.
Retail Food Group, owner of the Gloria Jean's, Donut King and Brumby's Bakery brands, after media reports accused the company of driving its franchisees into bankruptcy with a brutal business model. Shares of the company are losing almost 22 percent.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar has fallen against the U.S. dollar, which strengthened following better-then-expected U.S. jobs data. In early trades, the local unit was quoted at US$0.7508, down from $0.7514 on Friday.
The Japanese market drifted into negative territory, despite opening higher on a weaker yen and following the gains on Wall Street Friday after the release of better-than-expected U.S. jobs data.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 8.92 points or 0.04 percent to 22,802.16, after rising to a high of 22,900.34 in early trades.
The major exporters are mostly lower. Sony is losing almost 2 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is down almost 1 percent and Panasonic is down 0.3 percent, while Canon is adding 0.3 percent.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding 1 percent, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is advancing almost 2 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging up less than 0.1 percent and Honda is down 0.2 percent.
In the oil space, Inpex is adding 0.3 percent, while Japan Petroleum is down 0.5 percent despite crude oil prices rising Friday.
Among the market's best performers, Concordia Financial is gaining almost 5 percent, JXTG Holdings is rising 3 percent and Nippon Electric Glass is up almost 3 percent.
On the flip side, Obayashi Corp. is losing almost 7 percent after the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported that prosecutors suspected the company of being involved in bid-rigging. Sumco Corp. is down almost 4 percent and Taisei Corp. is lower by almost 3 percent.
In economic news, the Bank of Japan said that the M2 money stock in Japan was up 4.0 percent on year in November, coming in at 987.8 trillion yen. That was shy of expectations for an increase of 4.1 percent, which would have been unchanged from October's reading.
The M3 money stock picked up an annual 3.4 percent to 1,314.8 trillion yen - unchanged from the previous month following a downward revision from 3.5 percent, which was also the forecast for November.
Japan will also release preliminary November numbers for machine tool orders and fourth-quarter results for the BSI manufacturing index today.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 113 yen-range on Monday.
Elsewhere in Asia, New Zealand, Singapore, Shanghai, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan are also higher.
On Wall Street, stocks closed at record highs on Friday after a Labor Department report showed stronger than expected job growth in the month of November. Positive sentiment was also generated by news that both the House and the Senate passed a stopgap spending bill to avoid a government shutdown.
The Dow climbed 117.68 points or 0.5 percent to 24,329.16, the Nasdaq rose 27.24 points or 0.4 percent to 6,840.08 and the S&P 500 advanced 14.52 points or 0.6 percent to 2,651.50.
The major European markets also moved to the upside on Friday. While the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.3 percent, the German DAX Index advanced by 0.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index shot up by 1 percent.
Crude oil prices rose Friday amid concerns of supply disruptions from Nigeria, as workers threatened to strike at a crucial production facility. WTI crude added $0.67 or 1.2 percent to settle at $57.36 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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