Ahead of a light trading day as a result of the Good Friday holiday in many countries across the globe, Asian markets are poised to move higher after upbeat factor data helped to shift sentiment toward higher risk assets. On Thursday, the ISM Manufacturing sector PMI for the month of March came in with a solid reading of 64.7, well above the slight rise to 61.3 that analysts had expected. Historical data shows that the ISM reading was at a 37-year high. The Markit Manufacturing PMI for the month was also improved at 59.1. The $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan introduced by the Biden Administration also gave risk assets a boost.
In Asian trading as of 9:23 am in Tokyo, the EUR/USD was trading at $1.1784, a gain of 0.0425%, off the session peak of $1.17847. The GBP/USD was also higher at $1.3841, up 0.0795%; the pair has ranged from a high of $1.38464 to a low of $1.38262. The AUD/USD was higher at $0.7635, up 0.2311%, while the NZD/USD was trading higher at $0.7033, a gain of 0.2222%.
Markets Eye March NFP
Market attention will later focus on the Non-Farms Payroll data which will be released by the US Department of Labor. From the latest poll, it is clear that analysts expect to see a significant surge in the numbers of private sector jobs for the month of March, with the consensus calling for 647,000, well above February's 379,000. Analysts also expect to see a fall in the unemployment rate from 6.2% to 6%. One key metric, average hourly earnings, is not expected to show any improvement in month-over-month figures, while the annualized numbers will likely show a decline.