Asian stocks were largely unchanged on Thursday ahead of the latest US payrolls report, while the US dollar remained near a three-week low against the euro, sensitive to lingering doubts about its reserve status.
The US unemployment rate is forecast to rise to a 26-year high of 9.6 per cent, which would test even the most die-hard bulls on the extent of the recovery underway even after Wednesday's positive manufacturing figures from China, the euro zone and the United States.
"Manufacturing data from the United States and other major economies came out quite solid, but investors remain cautious ahead of US. jobs data and corporate earnings," said Yoo Soo-min, a market analyst at Hyundai Securities in Seoul.
Japan's Nikkei share average was flat on the day but far from an eight-month high reached three weeks ago.
The MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan rose 1 per cent, with strength concentrated in the technology and materials sectors.
Stocks in Taiwan rose 1.4 per cent, outpacing the region as investors eager to gain exposure to Chinese economic growth prospects pushed the benchmark TAIEX index to a fresh one-month high.
Valuations of technology firms in Taiwan, on a 12-month forward price-to-earnings basis, have been coming down in the last few months and are currently around 23 times compared with 50 times in April, according to global estimates tracker I/B/E/S.
Reuters
