With most of the world’s markets closed in honor of Good Friday, some Asian markets gained overnight on light volume as the continent’s industrial giants rallied on the announcement of a new Japanese economic stimulus package.
Asian Market Overview –
Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark index added 48.05 points on Friday, or 0.54%, to 8964.11 - capping off five straight weeks for the continent’s largest stock market. Stocks in that country are now at six-month highs.
The gains in Japan were led by the nation’s industrial giants and auto makers. Shares of Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) gained 4.6% overnight, while shares of Nissan Motor Co. (NSANY) jumped 4.9% and shares of the maker of Subaru cars - Fuji Heavy Industries – advanced 5.5%.
Japanese conglomerate Sony (SNE), the world’s second-largest electronics maker, gained 4.2%.
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso announced on Friday a $150 billion economic package, using primarily borrowed money. It’s the third stimulus package for the world’s second-largest economy – which saw its economy shrink 12.7% on an annualized basis in 2008.
"Our prime objective is to prevent the economy from falling through the floor," Aso said when introducing the package.
According to estimates from the Japanese Government, the $150 billion stimulus package will boost economic growth by 2 percentage points and hopefully will create up to 500,000 jobs a year.
The other Asian markets open for trading Friday rallied overnight. South Korea’s Kospi rose 19.69 points, or 1.5%, to 1336.04 while China’s Shanghai Composite gained 2.7% to 2444.23.
Korea’s market was led higher by the nation’s industrial heavyweight Samsung Electronics, which rose by 4% overnight.
The markets of Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, India were all closed for Good Friday.
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