Asia advances on US jobs optimism Friday 03:00 GMT. Asian shares rose to an eight-month high, encouraged by a bigger-than-expected fall in weekly US jobless claims ahead of non-farm payrolls data later on Friday. The MSCI Asia Pacific index gained 0.1 per cent with Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average up 0.2 per cent, South Korea's Kospi Composite index 0.6 per cent higher and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index rising 0.8 per cent to a six-week high. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index and the Shanghai Composite index each added 0.3 per cent. Investors are awaiting the key monthly US jobs report for further clues on the US economic outlook. Non-farm payrolls in November are expected to have risen just 93,000, compared with October's 171,000 job gain, due to the impact of superstorm Sandy on US economic activity. "A soft number should reinforce the case for the Fed doves ahead of next week's FOMC meeting where quantitative easing is likely to be increased," said Sean Callow, senior currency strategist at Westpac Bank in Sydney, said in a note. "Hence a soft report should hurt the US dollar and vice versa." The Federal Reserve is expected to announce a new round of Treasury bond purchases at its December 11-12 meeting to reinforce quantitative easing. But the US dollar was slightly firmer at Y82.49 per yen in Asia compared with Y82.39 late Thursday in New York. The weaker yen continued to buoy Japanese shares amid growing expectations that a new government, following the December 16 election, would ease monetary policy. The Australian market was buoyed by a report in the Australian Financial Review that the government may no longer be committed to a budget surplus if economic growth falls below its long-term average in the current quarter. Chinese shares extended gains amid hopes of additional government stimulus measures, but trading was cautious ahead of a raft of economic data due over the next few days. China will release industrial production and inflation data for November on Sunday, followed by trade data on Monday. In Hong Kong, Chinese insurer PICC Group surged 5.2 per cent on its debut after raising $3.1bn in an initial public offering. Zhengzhou Coal Mining Machinery, which also debuted in Hong Kong this week, has fallen 9.3 per cent from its listing price. Prada jumped 5.9 per cent to a record high in Hong Kong, after the luxury goods company posted a 50 per cent jump in earnings in the nine months to September compared with a year earlier. Earlier, the euro dipped following dovish comments on inflation and growth prospects from Mario Draghi, European Central Bank president. The single currency traded 0.8 per cent lower at $1.2968 by late afternoon in New York. A move higher in Italian and Spanish bond yields, which added several basis points apiece, as political tensions boiled over in Rome, also had an impact on broader market sentiment. But equities found their poise with the FTSE All-World equity index up 0.2 per cent after the FTSE Eurofirst 300 sported a gain of 0.7 per cent. Wall Street's S&P 500 rose 0.3 per cent, also supported by a rebound in Apple shares. Nevertheless, the primary risk aversion barometers delivered pessimistic signals, with the dollar index up 0.6 per cent and 10-year Treasuries in demand. Yields on the securities fell 2 basis points to 1.57 per cent.