Asian stock market: Bulls cheer cautious optimism on NFP day

• Asian shares register gains led by ASX 200 and Hang Seng.
• Hopes of virus vaccine, recently upbeat global PMIs keep the traders hopeful.
• Virus woes, US-China tussle mostly ignored ahead of the key US jobs report.

Asian equities take the bids ahead of the European session on Thursday. In doing so, the investors defy the generally observed pre-NFP trading lull while observing gains made in key markets amid hopes of the coronavirus (COVID-19) cure. Also supporting the optimism could be the latest activity numbers from the key global economies.

On the contrary, escalating tension between American and Beijing, over the Hong Kong issue, as well as surging virus cases in the US, fails to disappoint the traders. Also on the negative side is the global ire over China’s passage of Hong Kong bill and Beijing’s watch over the US media firms.

Against this backdrop, the MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gains over 1.20% with Japan’s Nikkei 225 adding 0.20% to 22,167 as we write. Further, Australia’s ASX 200 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng mark 1.65% and 1.55% gains to be the regional leader whereas South Korea’s KOSPI rises 0.95% to 2,127 by the press time. Moving on, Indonesia’s IDX Composite and stocks in China, coupled with India’s BSE Sensex, become no exception while flashing around 1.0% green mark as of now.

Looking at the broader scale, US 10-year Treasury yields and S&P 500 Futures dwindle during the pre-NFP trading lull. While the US bond yields stop the previous recovery towards 0.70% around 0.68%, US stock futures rise 0.15% to 3,107 at the time of writing.

Moving on, a light calendar and a muted market reaction to the virus/geopolitical risks keep the traders on the lookout for the US June month employment figures. Market forecasts an increase of 3,000K in the headline Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) from the previous 2,509K while Unemployment Rate could also ease from 13.3% to 12.3%. However, fears are mounting that the recent resurgence in the pandemic could disappoint the optimists.