Friday, 20 October 2017

Japan Falls Ahead Of Polls; Asian Close Mainly Higher

Posted by Valentine at 11:49 Labels:

Asian markets traded mostly in green territory on Friday, but Japanese stocks fell under pressure as investors prepared for a national election over the weekend.

On Sunday, the world’s third-largest economy will head to the polls. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s coalition is expected to win with nearly two-thirds, according to a poll from Kyodo News.

Abe called early elections and dissolved the parliament a few weeks ago in order to strengthen his political power. The dollar traded 0.64 percent higher against the yen at 113.26 this morning.

Australia ASX +8.80 +0.15% 5,968.60 CLOSED
Shanghai Comp +8.48 +0.25% 3,378.65 CLOSED
Hang Seng Index +290.16 +1.03% 28,449.25 OPEN
Nikkei 225 +9.12 +0.04% 21,457.64 CLOSED
TSEC 50 Index -31.41 -0.29% 10,728.88 CLOSED

In other news, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Friday that returns of regional financial institutions is falling, result of the regulator’s extensive monetary easing program.

Regarding inflation, Kuroda said households are accepting in a more proper way price hikes as wages and jobs show moderate improvements.

“The BOJ expects inflation to accelerate toward its 2 percent inflation target, [...] Structural downward pressure on their profitability will continue due to a dwindling population and shrinking business opportunities in regional Japan,” said Kuroda.

On Thursday, Wall Street top three indexes ended mostly higher, with third-quarter corporate earnings cheering market participants, helping to keep optimism alive.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average moved to 22,163.04. The S&P 500 posted a 0.03 percent gain and the heavy-tech Nasdaq Composite dropped  0.29 percent to 6605.07.

On the data front, the US Department of Labor reported a 22,000 drop of initial jobless claims for the week ended October 13 to a seasonally adjusted 222,000, notably better than the forecasted 4,000 decline.

Ahead in today’s session, traders will be looking at US existing home sales at 14:00 GMT. Remarks from FOMC member Mester and Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen are due at 18:00 GMT and 23:30 GMT respectively.

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