Asian stocks fell, following U.S. equities lower, as better-than-forecast U.S. jobs data fueled speculation the Federal Reserve will be faster in raising interest rates.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 0.3 percent to 144.98 as of 9:01 a.m. in Tokyo, with all 10 industry groups dropping. American employers added 295,000 workers last month, Labor Department data showed Friday in Washington, beating the median prediction in a Bloomberg survey of economists for a 235,000 increase. The unemployment rate fell to the lowest in almost seven years. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index sank 1.4 percent, the most since January.
The jobs report “should play out in terms of further weakness in stock markets,” Richard Gibbs, Sydney-based head of economics at Macquarie Group Ltd., told Bloomberg TV. “Those expectations of normalization of interest rates were brought forward again. A lot is going to rest on what is said or is not said by Fed officials in the U.S. this week.”
Japan’s Topix index lost 0.7 percent as the nation’s revised fourth-quarter gross domestic product rose less than estimated. South Korea’s Kospi index retreated 0.5 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.7 percent. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index slipped 0.2 percent according Bloomberg.
Futures on Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index retreated 0.5 percent in most recent trading and contracts on the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland firms listed in the city lost 0.8 percent.
China’s exports grew steadily in the first two months of the year, driven by the U.S. economic recovery, while imports fell in a reflection of weakened domestic demand and lower commodity prices.
Exports gained more than 48 percent from a year earlier in February, beating analyst estimates for a 14 percent jump, though the number was skewed by distortions from the timing of the Lunar New Year holiday. Together with January, overseas sales rose 15 percent, surpassing the government’s goal for 2015 of 6 percent.
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