Asian Stock Markets Rise On Encouraging US Data

Most of the Asian markets rose Thursday as investor sentiment turned positive by the upward trend of the U.S. economy following the encouraging jobs data and services activity index.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was up 0.62 percent or 53.89 points to 8800.76. Among the major gainers were Toshiba Corp (5.06 percent), Hino Motors Ltd (4.73 percent) and Isuzu Motors Ltd (4.28 percent).

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.19 percent or 39.81 points to 20928.09. Among the major gainers were China Life Insurance Co Ltd (1.35 percent) and AIA Group Ltd (1.02 percent).

South Korea’s KOSPI Composite Index fell 0.36 percent or 7.10 points to 1988.93. Shares of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd dropped 0.66 percent and those of LG Electronics Inc rose 0.44 percent.

India's BSE Sensex gained 0.53 percent or 100.41 points to 18970.10. Among the major gainers were Bharti Airtel (1.22 percent), Bank of Baroda (0.95 percent) and Sesa Goa (0.85 percent).

In China, markets are closed Thursday for holiday.

In the U.S., the Automatic Data Processing released its National Employment Report Wednesday. The report, which is a measure of the monthly change in nonfarm private employment data based on the payroll data of approximately 400,000 U.S. business clients, rose by 162,000 September, down slightly from 189,000 gain in August.

The Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index was also reported Wednesday. Market sentiment turned positive to note that the U.S. non-manufacturing activity improved in September, alleviating the concerns about the weakening of the world’s largest economy.

The ISM non-manufacturing index, which rates the relative level of business conditions, including employment, production, new orders, prices, supplier deliveries and inventories, rose to 55.1 in September, up from 53.7 in August.

A level above 50 represents expansion in the industry. According to the ISM, the best performing sectors were transport, retail and construction. The improvement in the non-manufacturing activity would decrease fears of the likelihood of a sharp retardation in the economy.

Market participants hope that the rise in the U.S. non-manufacturing activity will usher in a major and sustained improvement in the economic growth of the country.