Tech boosts stocks as nonfarm payrolls edge closer

Friday saw advances in the majority of Asian markets, led by technology companies as Apple Inc.'s strong earnings helped to boost optimism. However, gains were restrained by regional market holidays and the expectation of important U.S. data.

Holidays in China and Japan considerably muted regional trade activity.

Wall Street, which increased on Thursday as tech companies recovered from sharp losses this week, provided a good lead-in for Asian markets. In Asian trade, U.S. stock index futures also increased.

However, overall gains were modest, and Wall Street was still expected to experience weekly losses due to concerns about U.S. interest rates remaining high for an extended period of time. Now, for fresh hints about rates, attention was focused on the nonfarm payrolls data that was coming up later in the day.

Asian stock markets with a strong tech sector outperformed others for the day, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rising 1.4%. This week, the index outperformed all others in Asia as a result of increased stimulus measures in China, especially in the real estate sector, which significantly increased property stocks.

Asian suppliers of the company experienced a post-hours surge in Apple's stock, particularly following the company's better-than-expected profits and revenue growth estimate for the upcoming quarter.

More expansive Asian markets were mainly quiet due to low trade volumes, local holidays, and concerns about US interest rates.

As the important nonfarm payrolls figures are expected later today, markets are now also generally cautious.

For the previous five months, nonfarm payrolls have routinely exceeded market estimates despite the ongoing strength of the US labour market.

Strong labour markets allow the Federal Reserve greater leeway to maintain high interest rates for an extended period of time. Even while the central bank stated that additional rate rises were improbable given the recent stickiness in inflation, it had issued a warning to that effect during a meeting earlier this week.

(Sources: investing.com, reuters.com)