By Tom Miles
HONG KONG, April 4 (Reuters) - Asian stocks hovered at
one-month highs, with investors trading cautiously ahead of
U.S. jobs report on Friday that is expected to raise fresh
concerns that the economy is closer to a recession.
Investors are keenly watching the U.S. economy because its
slowdown is sapping demand and weakening the dollar, a double
headache for exporters dependent on U.S. sales. The weak
currency has driven up dollar-denominated commodity prices,
adding to the burden on the struggling U.S. economy.
Japan's biggest maker of construction-use steel, Tokyo
Steel <5423.T> said on Friday it had stopped signing export
contracts due to the high price of scrap and the strong yen.
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Its shares fell more than 2 percent and other top
steelmakers slid, with Nippon Steel Corp <5401.T> down more
than 3 percent, after analysts at investment bank UBS warned of
the need for more price hikes to offset big rises in iron ore
and coal costs.
Japan's Nikkei average <> was down 0.73 percent at
0156 GMT at 13,291.85, as investors sold to take advantage of a
more than 12 percent rebound since March 17, when the index hit
its lowest point since August 2005.
Stockmarkets elsewhere in Asia, as measured by MSCI's index
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> were up 0.1 percent, hovering at a one month
high.
With China, Hong Kong and Taiwan observing the Tomb
Sweeping Day holiday, most of the upward impetus in Asia came
from Sydney's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index <>, which rose
0.7 percent as resource firms gained on stronger metals prices.
Gold <XAU=>, traditionally a refuge for investors worried
about turbulence in stocks, held steady at $903.10/903.90 an
ounce after gaining more than $5 on Thursday to track a rally
in platinum <XPT=>, which rose on worries about supply
problems.
Oil also firmed up, rising 44 cents to $104.27 a barrel in
Asian trade and recovering from losses in the previous session
due to concerns over U.S. oil demand.
South Korea's benchmark KOSPI <> was flat, with
financial stocks edging down despite a report on Thursday that
U.S. investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co <MER.N> did not need to
raise more capital, which lifted U.S. bank stocks overnight.
Wall Street also welcomed strong results from Research in
Motion <RIM.TO><RIMM.O>, the maker of the BlackBerry device.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> closed 0.16 percent
higher and the Nasdaq <> nudged up 0.08 percent.
But Asia's investors were wary of Friday's non-farm
payrolls report, which economists expect to show the U.S.
economy shed a total of 60,000 jobs in March and the
unemployment rate rose to 5.0 percent from 4.8 percent the
previous month.
"The market will closely watch whether the results of the
U.S. jobs data pour cold water on the market optimism or not,"
said Hideaki Inoue, chief manager of forex trading at
Mitsubishi UFJ Trust Banking.
The dollar was little changed against the euro <EUR=>,
which wavered around $1.5666, and the yen <JPY=>, trading at
102.46 yen.
