The China Mail - Dollar drops, stocks climb after surprise US jobs miss

Stock markets gained on the report that showed 23,000 jobs were lost last month, well below expectations that 80,000 to 100,000 new jobs would be added and raising fresh worries about the US outlook.

Wall Street indexes rallied on the report in opening deals, flirting again with record highs for the Dow and S&P 500, while European stocks added to earlier gains following a mixed session in Asia.

Combined with steep downward revisions to US jobs readings in May and June, the data is "likely to revive concerns among Fed officials about the health of the labour market and make them less inclined to commit to near-term tightening", said Thomas Ryan, an economist at Capital Economics.

For Bret Kenwell at trading platform eToro, "This is the kind of report that could revive Wall Street's 'bad news is good news' reflex".

"Inflation remains a concern, but today's data may give policymakers more reason to remain patient -- and investors more room to lean into risk," he said.

Stocks have powered ahead in recent sessions, fuelled largely by tech names after corporate earnings beat forecasts and eased fears about when massive AI investments would start paying off.

Hopes for a US-Iran deal to end the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz added to optimism that oil and gas, along with other key products, would again start flowing freely after more than five months of war.

Crude oil edged lower on Friday, reversing gains seen after reports Iran was planning to block US and Israeli ships from the waterway as part of a deal with Oman.

But analysts said prices were unlikely to fall back to levels seen before the US-Iran war, unless there are concrete signs of a deal in place after days of conflicting comments from officials in both countries.

- Key figures around 1350 GMT -

New York - DOW: UP 0.1 percent at 53,932.63 points

New York - S&P 500: UP 0.4 percent at 7,738.29

New York - Nasdaq: UP 0.9 percent at 26,589.68

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.4 percent at 10,913.92

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.3 percent at 8,725.02

Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.9 percent at 26,363.80

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 65,606.71 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.5 percent at 25,668.03 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.0 percent at 3,940.04 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1571 from $1.1524 on Thursday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3500 from $1.3456

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 157.58 yen from 158.40 yen

Euro/pound: UP at 85.71 pence from 85.65 pence

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.6 percent at $81.99 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.4 percent at $77.00 per barrel

M.Chau--ThChM