Asian stocks rose sharply on Friday, with Australia leading the gains, as signs of progress in the U.S. budget stalemate provided relief to markets.
The Nikkei 225 index in Japan gained 210.03 points, or 1.5% to 14,404.74
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index recovered 267.02 points, or 1.2%, to 23,218.32
The yen softened slightly early Friday, as the dollar added to its overnight 0.8% rise against its Japanese counterpart. The greenback last traded at ¥98.39, compared with ¥98.16 late Thursday in New York.
The political impasse in the U.S. has been a constant theme for global markets throughout the week, though Asia has been resilient to the declines and more receptive to good news. Japan and Southeast Asian markets were able to end the week with respectable gains, with the Nikkei up 2.5% since last Friday.
On Tuesday, regional stocks shook off early weakness after Shanghai came back online with a healthy gain after a week-long public holiday. There was a similar story on Wednesday, as markets reacted well to news of the nomination of Janet Yellen to succeed Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
The negotiations in Washington remain incomplete, while Japan and Hong Kong were both heading into a long weekend with public holidays on Monday. This means that investors in Tokyo and Hong Kong will have to wait until Tuesday to react to any weekend developments.
Hong Kong will also be waiting until Tuesday to respond to a batch of Chinese economic data, with trade and inflation numbers coming out over the weekend and on Monday, which will provide investors with an opportunity to see whether strong data to come out of China in recent months has carried on to September.
In corporate news, the retail sector was in focus in Japan, as Fast Retailing Co. dropped 4.6% after the firm released a disappointing outlook for the current business year. The company behind the Uniqlo chain of shops remains up 46% year-to-date.
Department store operator Takashimaya Co. added 1.7% in Tokyo after reporting solid earnings
In other markets;
Shanghai’s CSI 300 gathered 39.19 points, or 1.6%, to 2,468.51
Korea’s Kospi Index added 23.50 points, or 1.2%, to 2,024.90
Taiwan’s Taiex Index returned from holiday to add 4.64 points, or 0.1%, to 8,349.37
The Singapore Straits Times Index advanced 9.80 points, or 0.3%, to 3,179.71
In New Zealand, the Exchange 50 Gross Index took 23.39 points, or 0.5%, to 4,740.77
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 83.73 points, or 1.6%, to 5,230.87
