Asian benchmarks are mixed in cautious trading ahead of US holiday, jobs report

Asian shares were mixed in cautious trading Monday ahead of the Labor Day holiday in the U.S., when stock exchanges will be closed.

Investors were also looking ahead to the U.S. employment report set for release Friday for an indication of the strength of the American economy.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.4% in morning trading to 38,797.61, after the Finance Ministry reported capital spending by Japanese companies in the April-June quarter increased 7.4% from the previous year.

After a period of stagnation, Japan’s economy is showing signs of a recovery. Next week, Japan will release revised gross domestic product, or GDP, data, a measure of the value of a nation’s goods and services. The preliminary data released earlier showed the first growth in two quarters.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.3% to 8,067.00, while South Korea’s Kospi gained nearly 0.1% to 2,676.28. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 1.3% to 17,752.09. The Shanghai Composite dipped 0.5% to 2,828.84.

A bit of pessimism rolled in over China’s growth prospects over the weekend, as its National Bureau of Statistics reported that August manufacturing PMI, a barometer of industrial output, fell from 49.4 to 49.1. That was weaker than market forecasts.

Wall Street finished last week broadly higher. The S&P 500 rose 1% during the week, with about 76% of the stocks in the index notching gains. The benchmark S&P 500 closed August with a 2.3% gain for the month. It’s now up 18.4% so far this year and is within 0.4% of the all-time high it set in July.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6% on Friday, setting its fourth all-time high this week. The Nasdaq composite ended 1.1% higher.

Recent reports on the U.S. economy, including inflation, consumer spending and income, have been encouraging. The Commerce Department said its personal consumption and expenditures report showed prices rose 0.2% from June to July, up slightly from the previous month’s 0.1% increase.

That means price rises are slowing down, and that’s likely to lead to the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates for the first time in more than four years. The market expects the Fed will start cutting rates later this month.

In other encouraging news, Friday’s Commerce Department report showed Americans stepped up their spending by 0.5% from June to July and incomes rose 0.3%, faster in July than the previous month.

Bond yields were mixed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.92% from 3.86% late Thursday.

The S&P 500 rose 56.44 points to 5,648.40. The Dow rose 228.03 points to close at 41,563.08. The Nasdaq gained 197.19 points to 17,713.62.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude fell 47 cents to $73.08 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 50 cents to $76.43 a barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar inched down to 146.16 Japanese yen from 146.18 yen. The euro cost $1.1055, up from $1.1053.

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Yuri Kageyama is on X: https://x.com/yurikageyama