Asia Stocks Advance With Crude Oil on U.S. Jobs; Ringgit Rallies

By Richard Frost & Adam Haigh 

Asian stocks rose to a 10-week high and oil jumped for a third day after faster-than-forecast U.S. employment growth bolstered optimism in the world’s largest economy. Shares in Malaysia climbed the most in four years and the currency gained after the ruling coalition won elections.

The MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan Index added 0.9 percent at 12:04 p.m. in Hong Kong. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index (AS51) advanced 1 percent. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were little changed. Crude increased 0.8 percent in New York. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index (FBMKLCI) jumped 3.2 percent, heading for the biggest gain since November 2008, after rallying 7.8 percent. The ringgit rose 2.2 percent against the dollar. Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak’s coalition extended its 55-year rule, retaining a majority in election results disputed by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. U.S. payrolls expanded by 165,000 last month and revisions to the prior two months added a total of 114,000 jobs, a government report showed May 3. French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici declared the era of austerity over after his German counterpart offered flexibility on deficit cutting.

“Resilient U.S. private demand, bolstered by stronger- than-expected jobs data last Friday, should help risk appetite,” saidMichael Kurtz, the Hong-Kong based head of global equity strategy at Nomura Holdings Inc., Japan’s largest brokerage. “We remain positive on regional equities.”

Malaysian Polls

Material and energy producers climbed more than 1.6 percent to lead gains on MSCI’s Asian ex-Japan gauge. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced 1 percent and South Korea’s Kospi index added 0.2 percent. Markets in Japan, Thailand and the U.K. are closed for a holiday.

BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, advanced 2.9 percent in Sydney. CIMB Group Holdings Bhd. surged 9.5 percent in Kuala Lumpur.

Volumes on the Malaysia KLCI were 418 percent more than the 30-day average for this time of day. Najib’s Barisan Nasional coalition won 133 seats in the 222-member parliament, Election Commission data showed. Anwar’s People’s Alliancehad 89.

“It’s a relief rally with Najib’s election victory,” Wong Chee Seng, a currency strategist in Kuala Lumpur at Ambank Group said in a phone interview. “The market was a little too negative going into the polls and that risk premium is being removed.”

The ringgit climbed to 2.9671 per dollar, the most since May 2010. South Korea’s won advanced 0.4 percent versus the greenback.

Rate Decision

The Australian dollar weakened 0.4 percent to $1.0283 after retail sales unexpectedly fell 0.4 percent in March, a government report showed today. There’s a 54 percent chance the Reserve Bank of Australia will lower its benchmark to 2.75 percent rate when it meets tomorrow, Bloomberg calculations based on overnight-index swap rates indicate.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rallied 1.7 percent to reach an almost five-year high last week and benchmark U.S. equities index gained 2 percent after the European Central Bank cut itsinterest rate and the Federal Reserve said it will continue to buy $85 billion of bonds a month.

“We’re witnessing the end of the dogma of austerity” as the only tool to fight the euro debt crisis, France’s Moscovici said yesterday on Europe 1 radio. “We’ve been pleading for a growth policy for a year. Austerity on its own impedes growth.”

Crude, Copper

The gap between the French Socialist finance chief’s view and the election-year positioning of Germany’s Wolfgang Schaeuble underscores the divergence between their economies and the wrangling that has marked the crisis fight since Francois Hollande replaced Nicolas Sarkozy as French leader a year ago.

West Texas Intermediate crude gained 1 percent to $96.52 a barrel as a rocket attack in Syria renewed concern that unrest will spread to other parts of the Middle East and disrupt supply. WTI has risen 6 percent over the past three days, the most since August 2012.

Copper for July delivery fell 0.4 percent to $3.3020 a pound on the Comex in New York after jumping 6.8 percent on May 3, the most since October 2011, on the faster-than-expected jobs data. The median forecast of 90 economists in a Bloomberg survey called for an increase of 140,000 positions.

Corn slumped 1.7 percent, the most in almost three weeks, on forecasts parts of the U.S. will turn drier after excessive rains, helping farmers in the world’s largest producer to accelerate planting and rebuild global inventories.

To contact the reporters on this story: Richard Frost in Hong Kong at rfrost4@bloomberg.net; Adam Haigh in Sydney at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net

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