Asian stocks mostly advanced Monday, as investors reacted to employment data indicating some improvement in the health of the U.S. economy, while some of Japan's best known corporate names soared on yen weakness and earnings. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.6%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 0.4% and China's Shanghai Composite index rose 0.5%. On the downside, South Korea's Kospi lost 0.2%, while the S&P/ASX 200 index slipped 0.3% ahead of Tuesday's interest-rate meeting at the Reserve Bank of Australia. “Superbowl Sunday made for a quiet start to the week in Asian trading, although volumes progressively picked up through the session," noted Sue Trinh, strategist at RBC Capital Markets. A sharp rally for U.S. stock markets on Friday provided a strong lead for Asia, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending above 14,000 for the first time in five years. The gains came after Labor Department figures showed a modest 157,000 rise in nonfarm payrolls for January but also illustrated that more jobs were added to the world's largest economy last year than previously thought. Other data out Friday showed U.S. manufacturing expanding to a nine-month high. Read: U.S. stocks rally; Dow industrials top 14,000. Calling the jobs data a “Goldilocks" number — meaning neither too strong and nor too weak — strategists at Barclays Capital said the data indicate the U.S. economy has maintained its momentum, “but not so much as to alter our view that the [Federal Reserve] will remain accommodative." After the data, the dollar bought 92.63 yen on Monday, up from ¥92.50 in late North American trading on Friday. The euro bought ¥126.20, from ¥126.36 late last week. Brown Brothers Harriman strategists said the dollar could rise as high as ¥97-¥98 against the yen, if “the deterioration of Japan's trade balance and the aggressive pursuit of stimulative fiscal and monetary policy by the Abe government keeps downward pressure on the yen." Monday's fresh bout of yen weakness saw auto makers push higher in Tokyo, with Nissan Motor Co. climbing 4.3%, while Mitsubishi Motors Corp. surged a hefty 21.4%. Sharp Corp. jumped 5.5% after the firm announced late last week a narrower quarterly net loss. Panasonic Corp. soared 16.9% after swinging to a quarterly net profit, while consumer electronics rival Sony Corp. climbed 7.5%. Steel maker JFE Holdings Inc. jumped 11.1%, helped by an upgrade to buy from neutral at Daiwa Securities. The Nikkei reported that the firm will provide stainless steel sheet technology to a unit of Taiwan's Formosa Plastics Group. Hong Kong-listed firms exposed to the global economy were also advancing on Monday, with Cosco Pacific Ltd. up 0.8%. Some consumer stocks also climbed, with Belle International Holdings Ltd. up 2%. Banks were seeing buying interest as well, with Bank of China Ltd. moving 2.1% higher in Hong Kong. Mainland Chinese trading also saw gains for banks, with Bank of China up 1% and Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. up 1.6% in Shanghai. In South Korean trading, exporters lost ground as Japanese rivals soared, with heavyweight Samsung Electronics Co. down 0.3% and Kia Motors Corp. 2.5% lower. Australian trading saw losses for financials, with Macquarie Group Ltd. down 1.4% and ASX Ltd. lower by 1.9%. The Reserve Bank will announce its first interest rate decision of the year on Tuesday, and 24 out of the 28 economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect the central bank to keep its key cash rate at 3%. Marketwatch
