Asian stocks up ahead of Italy move
Asian stocks rose today amid improving US jobs and manufacturing data and the expected approval in Italy of an austerity plan intended to get the country’s finances under control.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index was 0.3% higher at 8,403.45, South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.5% to 1,828.06, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.3% to 18,082.96. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan and mainland China also rose.
Later today, the Italian government will hold a critical confidence vote in the lower house of parliament on a multibillion-euro austerity package.
Despite widespread opposition, the plan aimed at persuading bond markets that the country can emerge from the widening European debt crisis is expected to pass. The country now sits on a €1.9 trillion powderkeg of debt that could spark a global economic recession if a default occurs.
Investor sentiment rose after the US government reported that the number of people applying for unemployment benefits dropped sharply last week to 366,000, the fewest since May 2008. That’s a sign that layoffs are easing, a first step toward bringing down the unemployment rate, which currently stands at 8.6%.
Traders were also encouraged by a report from the Federal Reserve of New York that its index measuring regional manufacturing jumped to the highest level since May. That was far more than economists were expecting.
A similar report from the Philadelphia branch of the Fed also increased more than analysts anticipated.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.4% to 11,868.81, the Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 0.3% to 1,215.76, and the Nasdaq rose marginally to 2,541.01.
