Asian stocks hit record high as dollar falters

Asian stocks outside of Japan hit a lifetime high on Monday, but the dollar headed lower after a solid U.S. jobs report failed to dent expectations for another cut in U.S. interest rates.
On Friday, the dollar rose sharply and U.S. stocks gained after data showed September U.S. jobs growth of 110,000, the highest since May. August's jobs fall was reversed to a gain and July's numbers were revised up.
But the dollar was pressured again on Monday as analysts concluded the U.S. jobs market was still weakening and the Fed Reserve could cut rates again before year-end.
"The market cooled off a bit after the non-farm payrolls on their Fed easing expectations," said Markus Ammann, director of global foreign exchange at Bayerische Hypo Und Vereinsbank.
The Aussie hit a new 23-year high of $0.9023 in early trading, while the Japanese yen, which is used to fund carry trades, came under selling pressure.
The dollar index, a gauge of the greenback's value against a basket of major currencies, was at 78.34 above last week's all-time low of 77.66. After Friday's jobs data, the index had risen as high as 78.819.
Trading volumes in Asia were thinned by a holiday in Japan, and traders expected the dollar to be volatile, with markets in Canada and the United States also closed on Monday.
Traders expected the euro to be listless ahead of a meeting of euro zone finance ministers in Luxembourg later in the day.
The euro changed hands at 1.4135, little changed from late Friday.
By 10:33 p.m. EDT, MSCI's measure of Asia Pacific stocks excluding Japan had risen 1.5 percent to 555.87 points, after hitting a record 556.43 earlier in the session.
On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 0.7 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index ended 1.7 percent higher.
Australian shares touched a lifetime high, with U.S.-focused firms such as James Hardie Industries gaining after the solid U.S. jobs data boosted optimism about the U.S. economy, while firmer base metal prices boosted mining firms. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index rose as much as 1.2 percent to an all-time high of 6,684.4, surpassing its previous peak set on October 3.
"One of the concerns that investors had was whether the U.S. economy was going to slow and how far it was it was going to go down," said Tony Russell, senior equities adviser at ABN AMRO Morgans.
"So any indication that suggests that business is not going to be as bad as what they think certainly has given optimism to future earnings to companies there and that's flowing on to us as well."
Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index rose 1.3 percent in opening trade to a new all-time high of 3,871.87 points.
Seoul shares rose to a record as LG.Philips LCD surged a day ahead of what are expected to be solid earnings results, while STX Pan Ocean rallied after UBS said it had acquired a stake in the shipping firm.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 2 percent, while Taiwan's benchmark index Oil prices fell, extending the previous session's losses, as investors turned their focus to slower growth in the U.S. economy and after hurricane concerns in the Atlantic abated.
U.S. crude fell 36 cents to $80.86 a barrel in Globex electronic trading.
Gold was flat, with analysts eyeing continued weakness in the U.S. dollar. Cash gold was at $741.40/742.20, barely changed from $741.10/741.90 in New York on Friday.

Oil holds above $81 on winter stocks worries

Oil held above $81 a barrel on Friday, clinging to its first gains in five days after data showing unexpectedly low distillate and natural gas stocks in the United States stirred concern about peak winter supplies.
U.S. crude fell 19 cents to $81.25 a barrel by 0616 GMT after rallying $1.50 on Thursday, its first rise in a week. Brent crude lost 34 cents to $78.63 a barrel.
Thursday's gains were fuelled by data showing U.S. natural gas stocks rose less than expected last week, expanding by 57 billion cubic feet (bcf) instead of the 67 bcf expected by analysts, the Energy Information Administration said.
That followed figures on Wednesday that showed distillate supplies, including heating oil, dropped by 1.2 million barrels last week, about 9 percent below last year's average.
Taken together, the data painted a picture of tighter heating fuel supplies ahead of winter, although forecasters said separately that they expected another warmer-than-average winter this year.
A resumption in the dollar's decline on Thursday, snapping a three-day rally, also aided oil. The dollar steadied just above a record-low against the euro on Friday, as dealers awaited September U.S. payrolls data, expected to keep the Federal Reserve on track to cut interest rates later this month.
"Crude prices might gain further as the weaker dollar could encourage funds to use oil as a hedge," said Koo Ja-kwon, crude analyst at Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC).
Oil has traded around the $80-mark for about three weeks despite OPEC's agreement on September 11 to boost output by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) from November 1.
ConocoPhillips and Valero Energy Corp said on Thursday their Los Angeles-area refineries were expected to resume normal operations during the week after being shut down Wednesday morning by a power outage.
Both Valero's 135,000-bpd refinery and Conoco's 139,000-bpd plant were working on Thursday through processes to restart from cold shutdowns

Dow tops 14,000

Stocks rose on Monday, sending the Dow Jones industrial average above 14,000 for the first time since July, as investors snapped up technology shares, including IBM and Intel Corp at the start of the fourth quarter.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 105.02 points, or 0.76 percent, at 14,000.65. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 9.19 points, or 0.60 percent, at 1,535.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 18.21 points, or 0.67 percent, at 2,719.71.