Asian shares rose Friday after a day of lackluster trading on Wall Street.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index jumped 1.0 per cent to 21,506.92 as the Bank of Japan ended a policy meeting by keeping its key interest rate at minus 0.1 per cent.
Chinese shares surged as the annual session of its ceremonial congress ended with Premier Li Keqiang pledging support for the slowing economy.
Li said the country would cut fees and taxes, delivering help worth almost 2.0 trillion yen (about $300 billion) to companies, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
The Shanghai Composite index jumped 1.5 per cent to 3,035.10 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.8 per cent to 29,083.03, reports AP.
South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.6 per cent to 2,169.33 and the S&P ASX 200 of Australia rose 0.2 per cent to 6,189.00.
India’s Sensex surged 0.6 per cent to 37,975.26. Shares rose in Taiwan and most of Southeast Asia but fell in Thailand.
US stocks indexes barely budged Thursday as the market’s three-day winning streak stalled.
The benchmark S&P 500 index fell 0.1 per cent to 2,808.48. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat at 25,709.94. The Nasdaq composite dropped 0.2 per cent to 7,630.91.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies gave up 0.4 per cent, to 1,549.63.
Facebook slipped 1.8 per cent after the New York Times reported that its data-sharing practices are now under criminal investigation.
The dollar edged higher to 111.71 Japanese yen from 111.70 yen on Thursday. The euro rose to $1.1316 from $1.1304.
The price of US crude oil added 2 cents to $58.63 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose 0.6 per cent Thursday to settle at $58.61 a barrel.
Brent crude, used as an international standard, also gained 2 cents, to $67.25 per barrel.