Asia report: Markets mostly higher on very quiet Friday
Updated : 09:42
Stocks in Asia mostly rose on Friday in a low-volume session, with a number of markets closed for holidays and those traders that were on the floor looking toward central bank meetings in the US and Japan next week.
China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan were all closed for the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed up 0.7% at 16,519.29, while the broader Topix added 0.8% to 1,311.50.
The country’s major banks, which had come under pressure earlier in the week after suggestions the Bank of Japan could cut rates further into negative territory, recovered somewhat during the session.
Mitsubishi UFJ was up 2.71%, Mizuho Financial was 1.7% higher and SMFG finished up 2.24%.
The yen was relatively stronger against the greenback, and was last ahead by 0.08% at JPY 102.02 per $1.
Oil prices were down during Asian trading after seeing some gains during US hours.
Brent crude was last down 1.42% at $45.94 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate lost 1.2% to $43.39.
The gains in Asia followed a green day in New York on Thursday, with all three main indexes gaining.
“The bulls have wrestled some sort of control back in US equity indices, but there is still a good amount of technical work to be done for the bulls to fully be in control,” said IG chief market strategist Chris Weston.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 1.08% to 5,296.69, with most subindexes finishing in the green.
The two major sectors - energy and financials - helped to lift the benchmark, advancing by 1.24% and 1.07% respectively.
New Zealand’s week from hell continued, however, with the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 closing in the red for a fourth straight day, finishing down 0.2% to 7,196.24, bringing weekly losses to 3.6%.
It was dragged lower earlier in the week by Wall Street sell-offs, but was led lower by stocks going ex-dividend on Friday, with Steel & Tube losing 7.5%.
The down under dollars were both weaker against the greenback, with the Aussie last off 0.16% at AUD 1.3328 and the Kiwi weakening 0.04% to NZD 1.3679 per $1.