AFP, Tokyo :
Tokyo stocks closed higher Friday, notching up their fourth consecutive rise as investors looked ahead to a key US jobs
report and an annual policy meeting of China’s leaders at the weekend. The report, which comes on the back of a string of improving data, is expected to show the US economy added 190,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate held steady at 4.9 percent.
Markets are also keeping watch on events in Beijing where the government on Saturday heads into the National People’s Congress, at which delegates will sign off on a new five-year economic plan.
The meeting comes after China on Monday cut the amount banks have to hold in reserve — aimed at stirring lending and growth in the wider economy. “US data continues to shine, oil continues to firm and risk appetite is coming back into all aspects of the markets,” Angus Nicholson, market analyst at IG in Melbourne, wrote in an email to clients.
“No doubt expectations will be quite high for an announcement of significant further fiscal spending from China’s National (People’s) Congress over the weekend.”
On Friday, Tokyo nominated 70-year-old economist Makoto Sakurai to the Bank of Japan’s board to replace one of two policymakers whose term is set to expire. Among them is outgoing member Sayuri Shirai, who in January opposed the bank’s move to adopt a below-zero interest rate policy.
The BoJ’s new policy was widely panned as desperate, and underscored the challenges facing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s troubled attempts to kickstart the economy.
Tokyo stocks closed higher Friday, notching up their fourth consecutive rise as investors looked ahead to a key US jobs
report and an annual policy meeting of China’s leaders at the weekend. The report, which comes on the back of a string of improving data, is expected to show the US economy added 190,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate held steady at 4.9 percent.
Markets are also keeping watch on events in Beijing where the government on Saturday heads into the National People’s Congress, at which delegates will sign off on a new five-year economic plan.
The meeting comes after China on Monday cut the amount banks have to hold in reserve — aimed at stirring lending and growth in the wider economy. “US data continues to shine, oil continues to firm and risk appetite is coming back into all aspects of the markets,” Angus Nicholson, market analyst at IG in Melbourne, wrote in an email to clients.
“No doubt expectations will be quite high for an announcement of significant further fiscal spending from China’s National (People’s) Congress over the weekend.”
On Friday, Tokyo nominated 70-year-old economist Makoto Sakurai to the Bank of Japan’s board to replace one of two policymakers whose term is set to expire. Among them is outgoing member Sayuri Shirai, who in January opposed the bank’s move to adopt a below-zero interest rate policy.
The BoJ’s new policy was widely panned as desperate, and underscored the challenges facing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s troubled attempts to kickstart the economy.
