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Japanese shares hit three-month high ahead of holiday | |
(about 5 hours later) | |
Japanese shares hit a fresh three-month high on Friday, closing higher for the fourth fourth session in a row. | |
The Nikkei 225 index reversed early losses to close 0.1% higher to 19,879.81. | |
This week's rise of 1.4% is the fifth week in a row of gains for the index. Japanese markets will be closed for a public holiday on Monday. | |
It was a choppy day's trading in Tokyo with early losses being attributed to a stronger yen. | |
A stronger yen is considered bad for Japanese exporters because it makes their goods more expensive to buy overseas. | A stronger yen is considered bad for Japanese exporters because it makes their goods more expensive to buy overseas. |
Rest of Asia | |
The rest of Asia traded mixed on a weak lead from Wall Street, where shares saw choppy trade as the prospect of higher interest rates gained momentum. | |
The Dow Jones and S&P 500 closed flat after many firms reported earnings that showed a mixed picture of the US economy. | |
The markets had been rallying this week on the Federal Reserve's hints that the US economy was strong enough to raise rates in December. | |
Chinese shares reversed earlier losses to head higher, with the Shanghai Composite up 0.5% to 3,635.86, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose by 0.2% to 22,544.56. | |
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index closed up 0.3% to 5,256.1 - gaining 4% for the week, which is its second largest weekly increase in four years. | |
South Korea's benchmark Kospi index finished flat at 1,989.86 points despite positive comments from the government about the state of the economy. | |
The country's finance minister Choi Kyung-hwan said the government will maintain policies aimed at boosting domestic demand over the next year and they will help the economy achieve 3% growth or higher in 2016. | The country's finance minister Choi Kyung-hwan said the government will maintain policies aimed at boosting domestic demand over the next year and they will help the economy achieve 3% growth or higher in 2016. |