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Asian stock markets : https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4

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Wall Street futures rise, pull Nikkei higher

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Dollar stays soft ahead of payrolls test

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US tax and spending bill crawls through Senate

By Wayne Cole

SYDNEY, June 30 (Reuters) - Asia shares firmed on

Monday as seemingly unquenchable demand for technology companies

lifted S&P 500 futures to another all-time peak, while the

dollar dipped on concerns U.S. jobs data will show enough

weakness to justify larger rate cuts.

Investors were also keeping a wary eye on the progress of a

huge U.S. tax-cutting and spending bill slowly making its way

through the Senate, with signs it may not make it by President

Donald Trump's preferred July 4 deadline.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill would add

$3.3 trillion to the nation's debt, testing foreign appetite for

U.S. Treasuries.

There was no doubting the demand for the U.S. tech sector

and megacap growth stocks including Nvidia ( NVDA ), Alphabet

and Amazon ( AMZN ). Nasdaq futures rose another 0.3%,

while S&P 500 e-minis added 0.2%.

The bullish sentiment spilled over into Japan's Nikkei

which rose 1.0%, while South Korean stocks

gained 0.5%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares

outside Japan firmed 0.1%.

A holiday on Friday means U.S. payrolls are a day early,

with analysts forecasting a rise of 110,000 in June with the

jobless rate ticking up to 4.3%.

The resilience of the labour market is a major reason the

majority of Federal Reserve members say they can afford to wait

on cutting rates until they can gauge the true impact of tariffs

on inflation, so a weak report would stoke speculation of a rate

cut in July rather than September.

"While initial jobless claims retreated somewhat from their

recent high, continuing claims jumped higher yet again," noted

Michael Feroli, head of U.S. economics at JPMorgan. "Consumers'

assessment of labor market conditions also deteriorated in the

latest confidence report."

"Both of these developments suggest that the unemployment

rate in June should tick up to 4.3%, with a significant risk of

reaching 4.4%."

The latter outcome would likely see futures push up the

chance of a July easing from the current 18% and price in more

than the present 63 basis points of cuts for this year.

DOLLAR DOLDRUMS

Fed Chair Jerome Powell will have an opportunity to repeat

his cautious outlook when he joins several other central bank

chiefs at the European Central Bank forum in Sintra on Tuesday.

The prospect of an eventual policy easing has helped

Treasuries weather worries about the U.S. budget deficit and the

huge amount of borrowing it entails.

Yields on 10-year Treasuries were steady at

3.27%, having fallen 9 basis points last week.

The dollar has not fared so well, in part due to concerns

tariffs and chaotic policies from the White House will drag on

economic growth and erode the country's claim to exceptionalism.

The euro was near its highest since September 2021 at

$1.1731, having climbed 1.7% last week, while sterling

stood near a similar peak at $1.3719.

The dollar was down a fraction at 144.48 yen,

after losing 1% last week, while the dollar index dipped to

97.163.

James Reilly, a senior markets economist at Capital

Economics, noted the dollar had fallen by more at this stage in

the year than in any previous year since the U.S. moved to a

free-floating exchange rate in 1973.

"At this point, further weakness could become

self-reinforcing as underhedged European/Asian portfolios chase

the move," he added.

"So, we suspect that this could be a pivotal period for the

greenback - either it turns around here or there is another 5%

or so fall around the corner."

In commodity markets, the general revival in risk sentiment

has undermined gold, which slipped to $3,266 an ounce and

further away from April's record top of $3,500.

Oil prices continued to struggle on concerns about plans for

increased output from OPEC+, which contributed to a 12% slide

last week.

Brent dropped a further 55 cents to $67.22 a barrel,

while U.S. crude eased 68 cents to $64.84 per barrel.