By Kevin Buckland

TOKYO (Reuters) -Tech shares rallied on Thursday, driving Asia stock indexes higher, while gold hovered near a record high and the dollar languished as a weak U.S. labour market report bolstered bets for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.

The U.S. government shutdown made it a near certainty that crucial monthly payrolls data won’t be released on Friday, but overnight the private ADP employment report showed the economy unexpectedly shed jobs in September, with the prior month also revised to a decline.

Even without the benefit of official labour data, the dismal ADP report had traders pricing in quarter-point Fed rate cuts at each of the two remaining policy meetings of the year as almost a done deal.

The promise of an easier policy environment helped lift Wall Stre

See Full Page