The Asian markets barring Hang Seng and Jakarta Composite concluded Thursday’s trade in green with Japan’s Nikkei making its highest closing level in nearly six years, as a slump in the yen pushed exporters higher on expectations of improved earnings. Japanese retail sales rose 2.3% in October from a year earlier in a sign that household consumption may be leading the nation’s economic recovery. The figures, released by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, were led by increases in sales of automobiles. Sales at large-scale retailers fell 0.4% on year, after adjustment for the change in the number of stores. The data was an encouraging sign for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s pro-growth policies that successfully lifted consumer spending in the first half of the year, largely on one-off, luxury purchases.
Philippine economy grew 7 percent in July-September, the National Statistical Coordination Board stated. Gross domestic product growth in the first nine months stood at 7.4 percent, compared with 6.7 percent in the same period last year. The Office of Industrial Economics Thailand stated that Thai Industrial Production fell to a seasonally adjusted -4.0%, from -2.9% in the preceding month. The National Statistical Coordination Board reported that Philippines GDP fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 7.0%, from 7.6% in the preceding month whose figure was revised up from 7.5%.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2219.37 | 18.30 | 0.83 |
Hang Seng | 23789.09 | -17.26 | -0.07 |
Jakarta Composite | 4233.92 | -17.56 | -0.41 |
KLSE Composite | 1807.60 | 9.14 | 0.51 |
Nikkei 225 | 15727.12 | 277.49 | 1.80 |
Straits Times | 3186.37 | 14.31 | 0.45 |
KOSPI Composite | 2045.77 | 16.96 | 0.84 |
Taiwan Weighted | 8362.43 | 66.55 | 0.80 |
