Stocks in the US surged on Friday, fuelled by a weaker-than-expected April jobs report, which pushed expectations for a Federal Reserve interest rate cut to September from November. The S&P 500 gained 1.2%, the Nasdaq advanced 2% and the Dow Jones closed 450 points higher. The US economy added 175K jobs in April, falling short of the estimated 243K and signalling a significant slowdown from March's addition of 315K jobs. Additionally, the unemployment rate ticked up to 3.9% while wages rose less than forecasts. Apple rallied nearly 6% after announcing a $110 billion share buyback and reporting better-than-expected earnings and revenue. Amgen also surged 11.8% on an earnings and revenue beat, to book its best day in nearly 15 years, while Cloudflare tumbled 16.4% after issuing weak revenue guidance for the full year. On the week, the Dow added 0.9%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.3% and the Nasdaq climbed by 1.2%.
Frankfurt's DAX 40 index jumped by 0.5% to close at 17,995 points on. the technology sector received a lift from Apple's upbeat results. However, Daimler Truck shares suffered a 4% decline following a cautionary note from the German manufacturer regarding increasing headwinds in the European market, which overshadowed the company's Q1 profit beat.
The Nikkei 225 Index fell 0.1% to close at 38,236 while the broader Topix Index inched down 0.03% to 2,729 on Thursday, with Japanese shares sliding for the second straight session as market sentiment remained fragile. Japanese equities also came under pressure from a sharp rally in the yen driven by another possible government intervention, the second time this week. Notable losses were seen from index heavyweights such as Mitsubishi Corp (-2.5%), Toyota Motor (-0.7%), Advantest (-0.7%), Fast Retailing (-0.9%) and Sumitomo Mitsui (-1.4%). Incorporate news, Sumitomo Corp jumped 4.4% after announcing plans to buy back up to 50 billion yen worth of its own shares. Japanese markets will be closed on Friday for a holiday.
The BSE index dropped 733 points, or 1%, to close at 73,878.2 on Friday, on profit booking and caution ahead of the release of the US non-farm payroll data. Leading the day's losses were Larsen & Toubro, Maruti Suzuki India, Reliance Industries, Nestle India, and Bharti Airtel. Conversely, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys, SBI, and ICICI Bank emerged as the only gainers. In particular, Bajaj Finance saw its shares end 0.8% higher after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lifted restrictions on the sanction and disbursal of new loans under 'eCOM' and online/digitally on 'Insta EMI Card'. Looking ahead, India's final services PMI for April is set for release next week, following preliminary data suggesting the sector experienced its strongest growth in three months, despite enduring capacity pressures. For the week, the BSE added 0.7%, notching its second weekly gain.
The Shanghai Composite fell 0.26% to close at 3,105 while the Shenzhen Component lost 0.9% to 9,587 on Tuesday, with mainland stocks snapping a four-day advance as investors turned cautious ahead of the long Labor Day holiday in China. Trading in mainland markets will resume next Monday. Investors also digested official data showing Chinese manufacturing and services sector activities remained expansionary but slowed in April. Meanwhile, a private survey showed that factory growth hit a 14-month high this month. The latest figures provided little clues on whether Chinese authorities would ease policy further to bolster the economy. Notable losses were seen from heavyweight firms such as ChongQing Changan (-10%), Zhejiang Wanfeng (-10%), China Vanke (-2%), Contemporary Amperex (-3.4%) and Citic Offshore Helicopter (-10%).
