Japanese shares closed higher on Friday, rebounding from a near 2% fall in the previous session, as investors scooped up beaten-down stocks on hopes of corporate earnings growth. The Nikkei share average ended 1.27% higher at 26,739.03 and marked a 1.18% weekly gain.
* MSCI Asia ex-Japan +1.8%, Nikkei +1.3% * European shares set to follow Asia's lead. * Equities rally after China cuts loan prime rate. * Global equities set for 7th weekly loss. By Andrew Galbraith.
Japanese government bond yields fell on Friday, tracking U.S. Treasury peers lower, after an auction drew solid demand. The 10-year JGB yield fell 0.5 basis point to 0.235% and the 20-year JGB yield fell 2 basis points to 0.740%. The auction for 20-year notes received bids worth 3.77 times the amount sold, higher than a bid-cover ratio of 3.10 at the previous auction.
Japan's core consumer inflation in April exceeded a central bank target of 2% for the first time in seven years, but only thanks to rising import costs, not the strong domestic demand that the central bank has been trying to kindle.
* April core CPI up 2.1%, above BOJ's 2% target. * Core CPI jumps at fastest rate since March 2015. * Gain points to inflationary pressures from energy, food costs. By Daniel Leussink.
Japanese police on Friday arrested a senior finance ministry official involved in coordinating policies with the central bank for possible assault charges, public broadcaster NHK reported.
Japanese shares rebounded on Friday from a fall of nearly 2% in the previous session as investors scooped up beaten-down stocks on hopes for growth in earnings of domestic companies. The Nikkei share average rose 0.9% to 26,640.61 by 0212 GMT and was set to gain nearly a percent for the week.
* April core CPI up 2.1%, above BOJ's 2% target. * Core CPI jumps at fastest rate in 7 years. * Gain suggests further inflationary pressure from fuel costs. By Daniel Leussink.
Japan's core consumer prices rose 2.1% in April from a year earlier, government data showed on Friday. The core consumer price index, which includes oil products but excludes fresh food prices, compared with economists' median estimate for a 2.1% annual gain. Stripping away the effect of fresh food and energy, consumer prices rose 0.8% in April from a year ago.
The Bank of Japan bought 70.1 billion yen of exchange-traded funds on Thursday, stepping into the market for the sixth time this year. Japanese shares had earlier fallen sharply after Wall Street plunged overnight on fears that surging inflation would eat into corporate profits and usher in an economic slowdown.
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