Japan, Australia Stock Futures Rise on U.S. Jobs, Yen, Metals

By Masaki Kondo and Satoshi Kawano

Aug. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese and Australian stock futures rose after the U.S. jobless rate dropped for the first time in more than a year, the yen weakened and metals prices gained for a fourth consecutive week.

U.S.-traded securities of Sony Corp., which gets about a quarter of its sales from the U.S., climbed 2.7 percent from the Tokyo close. Those of machinery maker Komatsu Ltd. advanced 4.3 percent ahead of a government report on Japan’s machine orders. New York-traded securities of BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s biggest mining company, gained 1.5 percent from the Sydney close.

“The improvement in the U.S. job market will increase demand for risk assets globally, including stocks,” said Tomochika Kitaoka, a senior strategist at Mizuho Securities Co. in Tokyo. “Exporters will get an extra boost in that the yen is sufficiently weak to help raise their profits.”

Futures on Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average expiring in September closed at 10,590 in Chicago on Aug. 7, 1.6 percent higher than 10,420 in Osaka. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index futures contract due in September rose 1 percent. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index added 0.5 percent to 3,085.06 in Wellington today.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index has gained 57 percent from more than a five-year low on March 9 as manufacturing in China, Europe and the U.S. improved. Stocks on the gauge trade at 1.55 times corporate net worth, nearing an 11-month high of 1.56 times reached on Aug. 3.

In New York, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 1.3 percent on Aug. 7 after a Labor Department report showed the joblessness rate dropped to 9.4 percent last month from June, the first decline since April 2008. Economists had estimated the rate would rise to 9.6 percent.

Machine Orders

The Japanese currency depreciated to as much as 97.78 from about 95.43 at the 3 p.m. close of Tokyo stock trading on Aug. 7. A weaker yen boosts the value of overseas trading at Japanese companies when converted into the local currency.

A gauge of six metals in London added 1.7 percent, bringing its five-day advance to 7.2 percent and capping its fourth weekly gain.

At 8:50 a.m. Tokyo time, Japan’s Cabinet office is scheduled to release a report on the nation’s machine orders. Bookings, an indicator of corporate spending in the next three to six months, are estimated to have risen 2.6 percent in June from May, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

To contact the reporter for this story: Masaki Kondo in Tokyo at mkondo3@bloomberg.net; Satoshi Kawano in Tokyo at skawano1@bloomberg.net.