Asia markets broadly positive as Nikkei touches highest intraday level since November 1991

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Asia markets remained largely positive on Friday afternoon, amid gains in Japan’s Nikkei 225 which saw its highest intraday level in almost 27 years.

The Nikkei 225 lost some gains but continued to trade higher by 1.25 percent in the afternoon, with most sectors still trading in positive territory. In the morning, the index saw its highest intraday levels since November 1991.

The moves in Japanese stocks came after the release of data that showed the country’s unemployment rate fell 0.1 percent from the previous month to 2.4 percent. The country also saw an increase in its month-on-month industrial output in August, while retail sales in August was higher as compared to a year earlier.

In the Bank of Japan’s release of its summary of opinions for its meeting earlier in September, the central bank said “the contrast between the favorable U.S. economy and other economies is becoming more evident, mainly reflecting U.S. trade policy, and uncertainties regarding their outlook have been heightening as well.”

Down Under, the ASX 200 also pared some of its gains but remained up by 0.37 percent during afternoon trade, with most sectors still seeing gains. Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s share price, which was in decline for much of the trading week, saw gains of 0.49 percent on Friday afternoon.

Over in South Korea, however, the Kospi slumped by 0.47 percent, with industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics falling by 2 percent. Shares of Korea Aerospace Industries plunged by around 28 percent, following the company’s failed bid to build the U.S. Air Force’s next training aircraft.

In the the Greater China region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index extended gains by 0.62 percent, while the Shanghai composite rose 0.93 percent and the Shenzhen composite held on to gains of around 0.46 percent.

The Caixin Purchasing Managers’ Index for China’s manufacturing sector for September is scheduled to be released on Sunday.

According to estimates by Reuters, it is expected to come in at 50.5 points for September — below 50.6 points in August. A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below that signals contraction.

In market action overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 climbed by 0.3 percent to 2,914, snapping a four-day losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also ended a three-day slide, gaining 54.65 points to 26,439.93. The Nasdaq Composite also saw gains of 0.7 percent to 8,041.97.

The moves on Wall Street came after the U.S. Federal Reserve’s latest decision to raise interest rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday for the third time in 2018. The central bank also removed the word “accommodative” from its statement.

Meanwhile, the ongoing trade tensions between the U.S. and China continue to weigh on market sentiments, with President Donald Trump accusing China on Wednesday of intending to interfere in November’s congressional elections.

In currency news, the U.S. dollar index which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers lost some of its earlier gains and was trading around 94.960 as of 12:02 p.m. HK/SIN, following its overnight rally on the back of economic policy uncertainty in Italy.

“Throughout most of the overnight trading session, there were growing doubts Italy’s coalition government would manage to timely agree on a 2019 budget target,” Elias Haddad, senior currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said in a morning note.

Commenting on the Italian government’s eventual agreement to set the 2019 budget deficit at 2.4 percent of GDP, Haddad said: “This is a bigger deficit target than the 2% aimed by Italy’s economy minister but well within the 3% budget deficit target (in structural terms) imposed by the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact.”

The Japanese yen was trading at 113.50 against the greenback, while the Australian dollar was around $0.7205 against the U.S. dollar, as of 12:49 p.m. HK/SIN.

— CNBC’s Fred Imbert and Reuters contributed to this report.

Correction: This story has been updated to accurately reflect the day of the release of Caixin manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index data for September.

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