Asian stocks rise as US jobs data eases rate fears

Asian stocks rose Monday after Wall Street gains, as US jobs data led traders to reduce bets on a Federal Reserve interest rate hike.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics said 23,000 jobs were lost in July and revised down job growth for May and June. Bloomberg put the chance of a September rate increase at about 43%, down from 64% a week earlier.

The S&P 500 ended at a record high, while the Nasdaq rose more than 1%. In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 was up 2.0% at 66,931.48 around 0230 GMT. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.7% and Shanghai's Composite Index gained 0.4%. Seoul also rose as SK hynix and Samsung rallied, while Japanese chipmakers including Kioxia, Tokyo Electron and Advantest advanced.

National Australia Bank's Rodrigo Catril wrote that markets treated the jobs report as a challenge to near-term Fed rate hike expectations. He added that the report did not provide “a clean green light for a dovish pivot” and said upcoming US inflation data would be important before the September Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

Oil prices also rose about 1%, with West Texas Intermediate up 0.9% at $78.87 a barrel and Brent crude up 1.1% at $84.48. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Sunday they would maintain their blockade of the Strait of Hormuz until the United States accepted Iranian conditions. Tasnim news agency reported that Iran's conditions included an end to the war on all fronts, the lifting of a US counterblockade of Iranian ports, an end to sanctions, the release of frozen assets and compensation for wartime damage.

The dollar gained against the yen after earlier losses tied to the US jobs figures.