Asian Equities Higher after U.S. Lead

A record high finish on Wall Street delivered a boost to Asian stocks early Friday.  Overnight, U.S. major indexes rallied one percent higher each on the back of calmer bond markets and a weaker dollar. The S&P 500 set a new closing record of 2121 after a 1 percent surge. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 1 and 1.4 percent, respectively, to come within 50 points of their record highs.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rebounded from the previous day’s close, which was at the lowest in nearly one week, as the yen ticked up 0.1 percent to 119.27. The fall in dollar-yen on Thursday, sparked by the selloff in bonds, sent jitters through the equity market and led the Tokyo bourse down 1 percent.

But a few sharp downward moves warranted attention; Nikon plunged more than 11 percent after reporting a first-profit drop, while Sharp opened down 1 percent after announcing that it has secured a $1.7 billion bailout from banks, marking its second major rescue in three years. The loss-making electronics giant will also embark on further restructuring that includes a 10 percent cut of its global workforce.

CNBC

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