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By Kevin Buckland TOKYO (Reuters) -Stocks rose across most of Asia on Thursday, with the chip sector buoyant following a strong rally among U.S. peers overnight. A robust start to the earnings season on Wall Street also helped lift the mood. Simmering trade frictions between Beijing and Washington increased the appeal of safe havens like gold – which renewed a record high – and the Japanese yen, while undercutting the dollar. Crude oil gained after U.S. President Donald Trump said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had pledged his country would stop buying oil from Russia, which supplies about one-third of its imports. Japan's Nikkei advanced 0.8%, with chip- and artificial intelligence-related shares boosting the index. Taiwanese shares climbed 1.4%, South Korea's KOSPI jumped 1.8% and Australia's equity benchmark added 1.1%, with all three touching lifetime highs. Taiwan chipmaker TSMC reports earnings later in the day, after Dutch chip-making tool manufacturer ASML reported third-quarter orders and operating income above market expectations, underpinned by booming AI investment. Hong Kong and mainland Chinese shares were also higher after an initial wobble, despite the drag from trade tensions. U.S. stock futures were overall flat following a 0.4% gain for the S&P 500 and a 0.6% rise for the tech-heavy Nasdaq overnight. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index surged 3%. Optimism over the AI narrative and signs of economic strength from robust U.S. bank earnings stole the spotlight for stock investors, even with Trump pronouncing late Wednesday that the U.S. is "in a trade war with China" – which markets had already concluded from recent comments from both sides. Gold rose another 0.6% in the latest session to reach an unprecedented $4,234.41 per ounce. The dollar sagged for a third straight session, dropping 0.2% against a basket of major peers. It slipped as much as 0.4% to 150.51 yen, putting the psychologically key 150 line in focus. It also eased 0.4% to 0.7943 Swiss franc, another traditional haven currency. The euro added 0.2% to $1.1667. There were some hopeful signs of calming trade tensions, with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying an extension of the current tariff reprieve was possible, and that Trump still expected to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea later this month. "The brinkmanship between the U.S. and China hasn't dissipated yet," said Kyle Rodda, senior financial markets analyst at Capital.com. "It will only simmer down completely when the Chinese back off the threat of rare earth export curbs and the U.S. reverse the tariff hike to 100% slated for November 1. Until then, trepidation will remain in the markets." Trump's trade manoeuvres also lifted oil off five-month lows, with Brent crude futures up 0.9% at $62.48 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures also adding 0.9% to trade at $58.81. On Wednesday, the U.S. president said India would halt oil purchases from its top supplier Russia, and Washington would next try to get China to do the same as it intensifies efforts to cut off Moscow's energy revenues and pressure it to negotiate a peace deal in Ukraine. (Reporting by Kevin BucklandEditing by Shri Navaratnam)

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(Reuters) -A breach at U.S.-based cybersecurity company F5 has been blamed on state-backed hackers from China, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. F5, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Earlier in the day, U.S. government officials said federal networks are being targeted by an unidentified "nation-state cyber threat actor" that's trying to exploit vulnerabilities in products made by F5. F5 said it had detected unauthorized access to certain company systems by a threat actor, but the breach had no impact on its operations. Representatives for F5 have told customers that the hackers were in the company's network for at least 12 months, according to the Bloomberg News report. The report added F5 Chief Executive Officer Francois Locoh-Donou is personally briefing customers about the timeline and the China-linked hackers. (Reporting by Devika Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Rashmi Aich)

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By Ankur Banerjee SINGAPORE (Reuters) -The U.S. dollar slipped on Thursday as the Sino-U.S. trade war sapped investor sentiment, while growing confidence of the U.S. Federal Reserve cutting its policy interest rate this year also weighed on the greenback.  The euro rose 0.14% to $1.1664 in early trade, hitting a one-week high. The yen also firmed to a one-week high of 150.52 per dollar. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six other currencies, was down 0.16% at 98.512, headed for a weekly decline of 0.33%. Investor focus has been on the trade spat between the world's biggest economies, with U.S. officials blasting China's expansion of rare earth export controls as a threat to global supply chains. China's commerce ministry defended the controls, pointing to U.S. measures on Chinese goods and companies and calling U.S. criticism hypocritical. TRUMP-XI MEETING Amid the tit-for-tat action, U.S. President Donald Trump still expects to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea this month, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. Vasu Menon, managing director of investment strategy at OCBC, noted the latest trade measures take effect in November after Trump and Xi meet. "If the meeting goes ahead, some of last week's measures could be toned down or even unwound and presented as successful deliverables." The sides have maintained lower tariffs and continued rare earth flows under a six-month trade truce that has been repeatedly extended for 90-day periods. Bessent has suggested a longer extension was possible. "An extension, rather than a grand bargain that settles all trade issues, is probably the most realistic second-best outcome compared to the alternative of escalation of retaliation," said Joseph Capurso, head of foreign exchange at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. The Australian dollar slipped 0.4% to $0.6485 after data showed unemployment hit a near four-year high in September, adding to the case for interest rate cuts. The Aussie, often considered a proxy for risk appetite, has been volatile this week due to the trade tension as traditional havens including the Swiss franc gained. The franc was last firmer at 0.7952 per U.S. dollar. FED CUT WAGERS With the U.S. government shutdown entering third week, investors have focused on policymakers' comments for a sense of the Fed's near-term path. Traders have priced in 48 basis points of easing this year, indicating increasing confidence for cuts at the Fed's two remaining policy meetings this year. U.S. economic activity was little changed and employment largely stable in recent weeks, the Fed said on Wednesday, though there were signs of labour market weakness and a slight pullback in spending. Meanwhile, attention will also be on Japanese political developments after parliament failed to set a date for its vote on a new prime minister. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party chose Sanae Takaichi as its chief this month but her path to becoming Japan's first female prime minister has become trickier after the Komeito party chose to end their coalition last week. The uncertainty could be an overhang for the yen though external factors have aided flows to such havens, analysts said. "The cost of becoming prime minister is likely to be looser budget settings," CBA's Capurso said. "There is unlikely to be much, if any, political support for policy tightening by the Bank of Japan." (Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

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(Reuters) -A breach of a major U.S.-based cybersecurity provider F5 has been blamed on state-backed hackers from China, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. F5 did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. (Reporting by Devika Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy)

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By Stella Qiu SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia's unemployment rate spiked unexpectedly to a near four-year high in September as more people went looking for work, a weak result that revived hopes for more policy easing. Investors ramped up bets for a rate cut from the Reserve Bank of Australia in November to 72%, from just 40% before the data. Prospects for more easing had faded as policymakers fret about sticky inflation and a sharp revival in consumer spending. The Australian dollar slipped 0.2% to $0.6497, while three-year bond futures rallied 10 ticks to 96.62. The heightened expectations of a rate cut pushed the local stock benchmark to a record high. Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics out on Thursday showed net employment rose 14,900 in September from August, when it fell a revised 11,800. That was under market forecasts for a 20,000 gain. Most crucially, the jobless rate jumped to 4.5%, the highest since November 2021 and against forecasts of 4.3%, which was the peak forecast by the RBA. The central bank has said the monthly jobs reports are volatile but employment growth has slowed sharply this year to just 1.3% in September, compared with 3.5% in January. "The RBA is increasingly caught between a rock and a hard place," said Harry Murphy Cruise, head of economic research for Oxford Economics Australia. "Inflation looks set to come in hotter than the Bank’s latest forecasts, while the labour market is weaker than expected … We maintain our view that a rate cut is warranted in November." The RBA held rates steady at 3.60% in September, having cut three times so far this year, awaiting more inflation data. Core inflation had fallen to 2.7% in the second quarter, back in the RBA's target range of 2% to 3%, but recent monthly data pointed to a risk it had not declined further in the third quarter. The central bank had judged the labour market to be nearly in balance, while demand in some industries was still running hot. However, the latest private data showed the number of job ads dropped 3.3% in September, the biggest monthly decline since early 2024. "The RBA have noted that some cooling within the labour force was expected. But nowhere within its most recent forecasts did they project the unemployment rate rising to anywhere near 4.5% – not this year, not next year and not in 2027," said Tony Sycamore, analyst at IG. "The RBA now finds itself in a very awkward position." Much focus is now on the third quarter inflation report due at the end of October where any downside surprises may pave the way for a rate cut in November. Earlier in the day, Governor Michele Bullock said a pickup in consumer spending and higher readings on some parts of inflation had given policymakers pause to consider whether further interest rate cuts were needed. Thursday's report showed the labour force grew a sizable 48,800 as more people went looking for work. Full-time jobs gained 8,700 after a steep drop the previous month, while part-time roles rose by 6,000. Hours worked rose 0.5%, reversing a drop in August. (Reporting by Stella Qiu and Wayne Cole; Editing by Kim Coghill, Sam Holmes and Sonali Paul)

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