Asian stocks rise as tepid jobs report stokes low rate hopes

Stocks in Europe and Asia started theweek higher, helped by a rise in oil prices and expectations that the Federal Reserve would keep interest rates on hold for longer.

In morning trade West Texas Intermediate was down 0.8 percent at $44.09 and Brent shed 0.8 percent to $46.45.

Many US traders are expected to be away from their desks on Monday for the Labour Day holiday.

Crude prices inched down, paring their robust gains in the previous session amid worries over a global oil glut.

The dollar slumped against its major peers as disappointing jobs growth in the USA weakened the case for a Federal Reserve interest-rate increase this month.

U.S. JOBS: Job gains slowed in most major industries in August and wages rose only slightly. Still, some investors believe the data show an economy that is strong enough to support an interest-rate increase before the end of the year, if not at the Fed’s next meeting, which is scheduled for September 20-21. Trading in gold and other metals ends at 1:00PM ET, while USA stock markets are closed for trading all day.

The British pound gained 0.3% against the dollar to $1.3328 after the United Kingdom services PMI rebounded more than expected in August after a big drop in July. “Monetary policy is not well equipped to address long-term issues like the slowdown in productivity growth”, U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chair Stanley Fischer said on Sunday, calling on Washington to invest more in infrastructure and education to juice up the slowly recovering U.S. economy. Still, analysts said it would take a fair bit of time to gauge the influence of the United Kingdom referendum on growth and confidence.

The eurozone’s composite services PMI, meanwhile, was revised slightly lower, suggesting the area’s economy may be taking a bigger hit from the Brexit vote than previously anticipated.

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which tracks the currency against 10 major peers, was little changed after gaining 1.5 percent over the past two weeks. The euro was flat against the dollar at $1.1151. The fall was unexpected as the initial estimate for August was 53.3 and has stoked speculation that the European Central Bank will enact a further stimulus on Thursday at its regular policy meeting. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 1.1 percent to 5,429.60.

A private gauge showed activity in China’s service sector expanded at a faster pace in August, but the Shanghai Composite Index added just 0.2%.

The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.9% this month, confounding expectations for a downtick to 4.8%, while average hourly earnings rose 0.1%, below expectations for a 0.2% increase.

His remarks sent the yen higher, disappointing investors who had hoped for a clearer signal on future policy ahead of the bank’s meeting later this month.