HONG KONG: Asian stock markets were mostly higher on Thursday due to upbeat US data and bargain hunting but sentiment was tempered as the turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa kept oil at two-year highs. Concerns that Libya is on the verge of a civil war and uprisings across the Arab world, also sent traders into safer investments, with gold hitting a new record and the Swiss franc also hitting a new high against the US dollar. Tokyo gained 0.53 percent by the break, Hong Kong added 0.42 percent and Shanghai was 0.40 percent higher while Seoul jumped 1.43 percent. Sydney was flat and Taipei rose 0.67 percent. Markets followed a slight uptick on Wall Street, where the Dow edged up 0.07 percent after the Federal Reserve's Beige Book report, to be used by the bank's policymakers at a meeting this month, said "overall economic activity continued to expand at a modest to moderate pace in January and early February." Private payrolls firm ADP reported a 15 percent month-on-month increase in job creation in February, to 217,000 jobs, much better than the hiring slowdown expected by economists. The ADP report was seen as boding well for Friday's official February jobs data. On Capitol Hill Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke wrapped up two days of semi-annual testimony to Congress on monetary policy, saying the recovery was strengthening but unemployment still remained too high. However, crude prices remained at highs not seen since late 2008 as a wave social unrest sweeping the Middle East and North Africa adds to worries that the global recovery could be stopped in its tracks. The situation in Libya grew increasingly tense; with embattled leader Moamer Qadhafi warning that thousands would die if the West intervenes to support the uprising against him as rebels drove back an attack by his forces in the east. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, rose 38 cents to $102.61 per barrel while Brent North Sea crude for April delivery gained 23 cents to $116.58." It will be a tug-of-war between the relief provided by (the) US's overnight market rise and the concerns over stronger oil prices," Toshikazu Horiuchi, an equity strategist at Cosmo Securities in Tokyo, told Dow Jones Newswires. The heightened concerns sent gold to another record Wednesday, spiking above $1,440 an ounce in London as dealers sought out the safe haven metal. It opened at $1,333.00-$1,334.00 in Hong Kong Thursday. On currency markets the Swiss franc remained firm versus the greenback after hitting a record 0.9202 to the dollar in New York. In early Asian trade it eased slightly to 0.9238. The euro eased a tad after recent gains on increasing inflationary pressure in Europe as attention shifted to a European Central Bank meeting later in the day. The single currency slid to $1.3855 in Tokyo morning trading from 1.3867 in New York late Wednesday. It also fetched 113.41 yen, down from 113.45 yen.
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