Asian Stocks Higher

Asian stocks climbed, with the regional index rallying from a more than three-week low, after the U.S. posted better-than-estimated jobs data and China recorded the biggest trade surplus in four years. The yen slipped while most emerging-market currencies and rubber gained.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.6 percent by 9:54 a.m. in Tokyo as the yen’s retreat versus the dollar and the euro helped Japan’s Topix Index advance a second day. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) futures added 0.1 percent after the gauge snapped a five-day slump Dec. 6. Malaysia’s ringgit climbed the for the first time in five days and Korea’s won strengthened 0.4 percent while the Thai baht weakened. Rubber futures jumped 1.9 percent while palladium and copper futures declined.

U.S. employers added 203,000 workers to nonfarm payrolls last month, more than the 185,000 increase predicted in a Bloomberg survey. The share of economists projecting the Federal Reserve will cut stimulus this month doubled after the Dec. 6 data. China reports on inflation today after faster-than-estimated export growth helped swell the surplus to $33.8 billion. Opposition ministers in Thailand quit en masse to join protests to oust Yingluck Shinawatra’s government.

Bloomberg

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