SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian shares crept higher on Monday after a tame reading on U.S. wages lessened the risk of faster rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, although Sino-U.S. trade tensions and a looming deadline for the Iranian nuclear deal argued for caution.
The week ahead also has important readings on the health of the Chinese economy, and hence global demand, as well as the latest data on U.S. consumer price inflation.
The early action was limited with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS up 0.2 percent.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 was flat, while Australian stocks added 0.3 percent. E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 .ESc1 also inched up 0.2 percent.
Friday’s U.S. jobs report showed unemployment dropping to a new cycle low of 3.9 percent yet wages remained benign, suggesting the Federal Reserve would keep raising rates but at a gradual pace.
That outlook cheered Wall Street where the Dow .DJI ended Friday up 1.39 percent, while the S&P 500 .SPX rose 1.28 percent and the Nasdaq .IXIC 1.71 percent. [.N]
Apple Inc (AAPL.O) hit a record high after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) disclosed that it had raised its stake in the iPhone maker.
The recent run of solid U.S. economic news contrasts with a softer turn in European data and lifted the dollar to its highest for the year so far against the euro.
The single currency was last at $1.1961 EUR=D4, having been down as deep as $1.1911 on Friday. The
