Japan jumps more than 2% as Asia stocks rise ahead of US jobs report

KEY POINTS

• Shares in Asia were higher on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining more than 2%.
• The Reserve Bank of Australia on Friday released its statement on monetary policy, where it highlighted that global GDP is "expected to fall sharply in the first half of 2020."
• The U.S. employment report for April is expected to be out at 8:30 a.m. ET Friday. Economists expect that more than 20 million jobs were lost last month, according to Dow Jones.

Stocks in Asia rose on Friday ahead of the release of the U.S. jobs report for April, expected later in the day stateside.

Japanese stocks led gains among the region's major markets, with the Nikkei 225 jumping 2.56% to close at 20,179.09 as shares of index heavyweights Fast Retailing and Softbank Group each rose more than 3%. The Topix index also surged 2.21% to end its trading day at 1,458.28.

Mainland Chinese stocks rose on the day with the Shanghai composite up 0.83% to about 2,895.34 while the Shenzhen composite gained 1.172% to around 1,809.17. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index also added 0.89%, as of its final hour of trading.

South Korea's Kospi advanced 0.89% to close at 1,945.82 while the Kosdaq index soared 2.11% to finish its trading day at 682.30. Shares in Australia also edged higher, with the S&P/ASX 200 rising 0.5% to close at 5,391.10.

Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index gained 1.07%.

The Reserve Bank of Australia on Friday released its statement on monetary policy, where it highlighted that global GDP is "expected to fall sharply in the first half of 2020."

"The declines in the March quarter were driven by a contraction in Chinese and euro area activity as well as the rollout of containment measures elsewhere late in the quarter," the report said. "A further fall in global GDP is expected in the June quarter, with many countries expected to record quarterly declines in GDP."

"We shouldn't expect to see a V-shaped recovery," Sat Duhra, portfolio manager of Asia dividend income strategy at Janus Henderson Investors, told CNBC's "Street Signs" on Friday. "We've seen a bit of a V-shaped recovery in markets but that's not how the real economy will behave."

"When we think about the U.S. and we're talking about you know … one month worth of jobs data erasing nearly a decade worth of jobs gains and that's pretty incredible stuff," Duhra said. "You cannot expect those people just to walk back into a job when shops and businesses start to open in the next few months."

The investor's comments came ahead of the U.S. employment report for April, expected at 8:30 a.m. ET Friday. Economists expect that more than 20 million jobs were lost last month, according to Dow Jones.

TICKER	COMPANY	NAME	PRICE	CHANGE	%CHANGE
.N225	Nikkei 225 Index	NIKKEI	38,519.78	+163.72	+0.43%
.HSI	Hang Seng Index	HSI	19,073.71	-41.35	-0.22%
.AXJO	S&P/ASX 200	ASX 200	7,762.40	+35.60	+0.46%
.SSEC	Shanghai	SHANGHAI	3,140.34	-5.44	-0.17%
.KS11	KOSPI Index	KOSPI	2,730.34	+3.13	+0.11%
.FTFCNBCA	CNBC 100 ASIA IDX	CNBC 100	9,663.51	+78.15	+0.82%

Overnight on Wall Street, the Nasdaq Composite closed 1.4% higher at 8,979.66, leaving it up nearly 0.1% for the year — erasing all its losses for 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also closed higher on Thursday by 211.25 points, or 0.9%, at 23,875.89. The S&P 500 gained 1.2% to close at 2,881.19.

Thursday marked the first time one of the major averages stateside was up year to date since the coronavirus pandemic led to the closure of nonessential businesses, sparking massive layoffs and a historic market sell-off. 

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 99.772 after slipping from levels above 100 seen earlier this week.

The Japanese yen traded at 106.35 per dollar after strengthening from levels around 107 seen earlier in the trading week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6527 after rising sharply from levels below $0.642 yesterday.

Oil prices were higher in the afternoon of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 2.82% at $30.29 per barrel. U.S. crude futures also advanced 4.46% to $24.60 per barrel.

— CNBC's Fred Imbert and Patti Domm contributed to this report.