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Asian stocks higher amid hopes of Fed action


BANGKOK — Asian stock markets were mostly higher Monday as expectations grew that the US Federal Reserve will take more action to boost the flagging economic recovery. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up 305.27 points, or 1.3 percent, at 23,249.45 and South Korea's Kospi added 0.2 percent to 1,900.08. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4 percent to 4,700.10. The Shanghai Composite Index jumped 2.4 percent to 2,805.61. Markets in Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand were also up. Japan's financial markets were closed for a public holiday. In the US, a weak jobs report added to a series of tepid economic indicators, creating expectations that the Fed will announce new steps to encourage borrowing when it meets in early November. Private employers added 64,000 workers last month, short of the 75,000 economists expected, according to a monthly government report released Friday. Overall, 95,000 jobs were slashed as governments laid off workers, including temporary census employees. The unemployment rate held steady at 9.6 percent. The Fed's goal, if it starts buying bonds again, would be to drive interest rates down further from their already low levels and spark borrowing and spending. Lower rates could also eventually drive investors into riskier assets like stocks or into currencies in countries with more attractive interest rates. The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 11,000 for the first time in five months Friday, effectively erasing the effects of a long summer slump for stocks. It came one day before the three-year anniversary of the market's all-time high on Oct. 9, 2007. The Dow is still 22.3 percent below that level. In currencies, the dollar rose to 81.98 yen from 81.80 yen. The euro rose to $1.3975 from $1.3944. Benchmark crude for November delivery was up 59 cents at $83.25 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 99 cents to settle at $82.66 a barrel on Friday. — AP
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