Global Market: Asian stocks edge up, Japan does well

TOKYO: Asian stocks shook off a sluggish start and edged up on Monday, with Japan outperforming on upbeat earnings, while the dollar regained traction as the US government looked likely to avoid a shutdown. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.1%. Japan’s Nikkei climbed 0.4%, with high-tech blue chips gaining on strong earnings. Asian shares initially took their cue from Wall Street, which dipped on Friday after data showed the US economy grew at its weakest pace in three years in the first quarter. The mood brightened slightly, however, on news that US congressional negotiators hammered out a bipartisan agreement on a spending package to keep the federal government funded through September 30, thus averting a government shutdown.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 2^nd, 2017.

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