TOKYO (AP) – Asian stock markets mostly rose Friday after the U.S. reported strong hiring for June.
The Nikkei 225 average, the benchmark for the Tokyo Stock Exchange, gained 0.6 percent to 15,443.65 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.1 percent at 23,545.86.
On Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average was buoyed by the jobs figures and topped 17,000 for the first time, another in a string of records for the index that has lifted portfolios in a five-year bull market for stocks.
The government reported that U.S. employers added 288,000 workers to their payrolls in June and the unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent. The U.S. economy is now creating about 231,000 jobs each month in 2014, compared to roughly 194,000 a month last year.
The jobs report is the latest piece of data to show the world’s biggest economy continues to improve steadily. Also helping stocks are solid corporate earnings and continued support from central banks.