Asian Market Update : Epic Research Singapore

Asian stocks rose modestly on Thursday, taking their cue from gains on Wall Street as the region braced for a resumption of trading in the Chinese markets after a week-long break.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan tacked on 0.3 per cent, supported by South Korea's Kospi rising 0.5 per cent and Australian shares climbing 0.9 per cent. Japan's Nikkei bucked the trend and lost 0.2 per cent on a stronger yen.

Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 soared to a 3-week high thanks to a bounce in biotechnology companies. Materials shares also enjoyed a positive session on the back of gains for precious metals.

Chinese stock markets, which have been hit by wild swings in recent months due to growth and policy worries, re-open later in the session after shutting since the end of September for holidays. "Arguably, two of the most important developments since China's holiday began is the weakness in the US employment data and, leaving aside the UK, output of the major economies appeared to slow in August," wrote Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman. "Although many market participants have shifted their expectations of a Fed hike out to March 2016, many Fed officials themselves continue to signal the likelihood of a rate hike before the end of the year." The Fed opted not to hike rates in September in the wake of cooling global growth, and fears of a deepening slowdown in China. Last week's soft non-farm employment report prompted markets to scale back expectations that the Fed would hike rates later this year.

Investors will have an opportunity to gauge the thinking of US central bank officials when the minutes of the Fed's September meeting, at which it opted not to hike rates, are released later in the day.

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