Asian markets slump after disappointing US and China reports

NEW YORK - May 13, 2016 - PRLog -- Meanwhile, oil prices rose steeply due to supply concerns originating from chaotic Canadian fires, and the dollar crept up on its competitors.

Analysts predicted European markets to dismiss the data, choosing a higher entry for its major indices after last week's gain on the US exchange.

The .MIAPJ0000PUS stayed more or less flat. South Korea's Kospi dipped 0.5% and Shanghai shares fell more than 2.5% following data recently released showed Chinese international trading dropped more than predicted last month.

Japan's Nikkei resisted the pattern and climbed 0.7% as the yen's latest surge seemed to stop.

"We've seen the dollar has bounced back against the major Asian currencies this month, and Asian markets are falling in correlation with those currencies," said Anthony Russell Senior Vice President, with Monex BMO Securities.

There were modest increases for U.S. shares last week as the disappointing U.S. jobs report stoked gossip that the Fed would have to heighten interest rates slowly. The Dow climbed 0.5% and the S&P 500 crept up 0.4%.

Another gain was U.S. non-farm wages which rose by 165,000 last month, the smallest increase for 6 months and below the 210,000 experts had predicted. Some financial firms were compelled to lower their expectations of a hike in interest rates to just one (for this year) from two prior to the report.

There was a marginal gain for the dollar, 0.2% at 108.27 yen. The currency at first fell in response to the employment report last week but rebounded after New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley commented that two interest rate jumps in a year were still very possible.

Higher than predicted yearly income growth keeps Federal Reserve interest rate hike fairly likely, but the risk is a delayed Fed rate jump," said Richard Grace, head currency planner at Commonwealth Bank.