TOKYO- Stocks rose on Monday amid speculation that interest rates will remain low due to receding inflationary pressure, while oil and gas prices jumped after a cyber attack on a US pipeline operator unnerved markets.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.35 percent, while US stock futures rose 0.24 percent.
Australian stocks hit their highest in more than a year, boosted by gains in miners, and shares in China rose 0.46 percent. Japanese shares gained 0.91 percent.
US nonfarm payrolls data on Friday showed jobs growth unexpectedly slowed in April, which gave equities a lift but put downward pressure on the dollar and US Treasury yields.
Oil and gasoline futures extended gains after a cyber attack shut down a US pipeline operator that provides nearly half of the US east coast’s fuel supply.
“It certainly pushes back the timetable for Fed tapering, perhaps to December from the prior expectations of the Jackson Hole Symposium in late August,” Chris Weston, head of research at broker Pepperstone in Melbourne, wrote in a memo.
“A softer payrolls is good for the reflation trade; the dollar weakened across the FX spectrum. We’ve also seen a solid bid in equity indices and futures are up.”
On Friday the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 rose to record closing highs after disappointing data on the US jobs market eased concerns about a spike in consumer prices.
In recent weeks, some investors had been placing bets that a robust US economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic would force the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates earlier than the central bank has outlined.
