Asia Stocks Advance as U.S. Jobs Report Beats Estimate

Energy producers led Asian stocks higher, with the regional benchmark index climbing for the first time in five days, after stronger-than-forecast U.S. jobs growth bolstered confidence in the world’s largest economy and halted a rout of commodity prices. Japan’s power companies fell.

Cnooc Ltd., China’s largest offshore oil producer, climbed 1.8 percent in Hong Kong as oil rebounded from the biggest weekly decline since 2008. BHP Billiton Ltd., Australia’s biggest oil producer, gained 0.8 percent in Sydney. HSBC Holdings Plc (5), Europe’s biggest bank by market value, added 1.5 percent in Hong Kong after Greece denied it was considering leaving the euro. Chubu Electric Power Co. slumped 11 percent in Tokyo after Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan asked the utility to shut its Hamaoka nuclear plant.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.4 percent to 138.06 as of 1:41 p.m. in Tokyo, with about five stocks rising for every four that fell.

“The U.S. nonfarm payroll data released on Friday was encouraging to see, although the tenor of recent economic releases out of the U.S. has been very mixed,” said Tim Schroeders, Melbourne-based manager at Pengana Capital Ltd., which oversees about A$1 billion. “It is highly unrealistic that Greece will leave the European Union.”
Regional Indexes

The Asia-Pacific gauge sank 1.4 percent last week after central banks from India to the Philippines raised interest rates and U.S. reports ahead of Friday’s employment data suggested the country’s economic recovery was slowing.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average slipped 0.6 percent, dropping for a second straight day on speculation the government’s request to shut the nuclear reactor located close to an earthquake fault-line may hurt the economy. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.4 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.9 percent.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.5 percent today. In New York, the index advanced 0.4 percent on May 6 as a government report showed the U.S. economy added more jobs than forecast in April, easing concern that higher fuel prices are slowing a recovery.

Payrolls increased by 244,000 workers last month, the biggest gain since May 2010, after a revised 221,000 increase the prior month, the U.S. Labor Department said. Economists projected an April increase of 185,000, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. Employment excluding government jobs jumped the most in five years, while the jobless rate rose to 9 percent, the first increase since November.
Economic Recovery

“The stronger-than-expected payroll report tells us that the U.S. economic recovery is becoming more sustainable,” said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital Investors Ltd., which manages $98 billion in Sydney. “More jobs means more spending, means more profits, means more jobs, and so on.”

In Hong Kong today, Cnooc gained 1.8 percent to HK$18.30, while PetroChina Co., the nation’s largest oil company, advanced 2.3 percent to HK$10.72. BHP Billiton, the world’s No. 1 mining company, rose 0.8 percent to A$44.92 in Sydney, while Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (WPL), Australia’s second-biggest oil and gas producer, gained 1.1 percent to A$45.81.

A measure of energy stocks on the Asia-Pacific gauge advanced the most among 10 industry groups as oil futures climbed for the first day in six. Crude for June delivery rose as much as 1.9 percent in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after slumping 14.7 percent last week, the biggest decrease since December 2008.
Payroll Data

HSBC climbed 1.5 percent to HK$83.95 in Hong Kong, and Billabong International Ltd. (BBG), a surf-wear maker that gets more than a fifth of its sales in Europe, climbed 1.2 percent to A$6.71 in Sydney.

European Union leaders showed their resolve in keeping the euro region together, agreeing in an unannounced meeting last week to ease the terms of the 110 billion-euro ($158 billion) lifeline that Greece received last year.

The euro tumbled 3.45 percent in the final two days last week, the biggest back-to-back loss since 2008, as Der Spiegel magazine said Greece may withdraw from the currency bloc. EU officials denied the report and said Greece will need more aid.

In Sydney, Spotless Group Ltd. (SPT), a corporate-services provider that grew from one Melbourne dry-cleaning store in 1946, soared 15 percent to A$2.24 after receiving a A$657 million ($707 million) takeover bid from a private-equity firm. Spotless, which didn’t name the suitor, said the A$2.50-a-share cash offer was too low. Spotless provides facilities management, food and cleaning services in more than 30 countries.
Power Companies

Chubu Electric plunged 11 percent to 1,569 yen in Tokyo today, leading power and gas companies to the steepest decline among 33 industry groups in Japan’s broader Topix index.

Prime Minister Kan on May 6 asked the nation’s third- biggest utility to shut its Hamaoka power plant, citing a government study that showed an 87 percent likelihood of a magnitude-8 quake striking the area within 30 years. It is the first government request to close reactors since a temblor and tsunami hit northeastern Japan on March 11 and caused the world’s worst nuclear accident in 25 years.

Tohoku Electric Power Co., a utility based in Miyagi prefecture, northern Japan, sank 2 percent to 1,206 yen after Asahi newspaper reported it may post a full-year loss after power plants were damaged in the earthquake.
Government Measures

Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest carmaker, retreated 0.8 percent to 3,185 yen.

“A lot of industrial-use products such as cars and electronics parts are produced in the Chubu district,” said Kazuhiro Takahashi, a general manager at Daiwa Securities Capital Markets Co. in Tokyo. “The uncertainty about the government measures toward nuclear power is a negative factor for stock prices.”

The Topix has declined about 8 percent through May 6 since March 10, the day before a magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan’s northeast coast, disabled a nuclear power plant and disrupted supply chains at companies from Toyota to Canon Inc.