The Topix real estate subindex added 3.5 percent during midmorning trade.
Advertisement
The Dow jumped was up 25 points, or 0.1 percent, to 17,167 as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time. Shares of Westpac (WBK) continued to be in a trading halt.
The firm’s Sydney-listed shares were slightly down in mid morning trade despite the company saying it would achieve its iron ore shipment target for the year.
“While the NODX data showed a month-on-month bounce, helped by a stronger rebound in exports to Japan, the global backdrop for exports remains hard due to the slowdown in China and the weakness of global emerging markets”, Rajiv Biswas, Asia-Pacific chief economist for IHS Global Insight, wrote in a note issued early Friday.
Asian equities cruised higher on the final trading day of the week, encouraged by an impressive lead from Wall Street. Additionally, a weaker yen boosted exporters’ stocks.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index closed up 1.08% at 18,291.80 points. The sub-index rose 1.4 percent from the get-go.
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (MTU) is advancing nearly 2 percent, Mizuho Financial Group (MFG) is gaining more than 2 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is up 1.7 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Kyowa Hakko Kirin is rising more than 3% and Screen Holdings is up 2%.
Suntory Beverage & Food will unwind its joint venture with Tsingtao Brewery amid stalling sales in the fiercely-competed Chinese market, the Nikkei business daily reported.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 119.04 yen from 118.38 yen. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.4 percent to 22,985.28, while the Shanghai Composite in mainland China was up 0.4 percent at 3,352.90. Bucking the trend, South Korea is marginally lower.
On Wall Street, stocks rallied on Thursday following the release of a slew of US economic data, including a Labor Department report showing an unexpected drop in initial jobless claims.
Dealers are also monitoring the European Central Bank’s policy meeting on Thursday “to see if discussions on additional easing takes place”, Nomura added. While the UK’s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.1%, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index shot up by 1.4% and 1.5%, respectively.
Advertisement
The greenback rose further later, to around ¥119.20, backed by higher Japanese share prices and demand from Japanese importers, traders said. USA crude gained 2 percent to $47 a barrel in New York.
