Japan Stocks Surge, Asia Rallies as Weak US Jobs Data Cools Fed Hike Bets

Asian stocks rose in the October 4 session after a soft US jobs report reduced bets that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates. Japanese shares led the advance, with the market described as surging on the back of the US data. The move reflects a broader pattern: weaker US labor numbers are being read as a reason for the Fed to stay on hold, which investors in Asia took as a reason to buy stocks. Not every index joined the rally. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was flagged as oversold, trading near 23,876 with a Relative Strength Index reading of 27.96, a level that typically signals a market has fallen further and faster than its recent average pace. That divergence shows the rally was not uniform across the region. What remains unresolved is whether the softer jobs data marks a turning point in Fed policy or a single weak print. The next US jobs report will be the test of whether this repricing holds.