Asia close: Stocks higher on NKorea offer of US talks
Asian stock markets closed higher on Friday as news that North Korea had offered to halt nuclear testing in return for bilateral talks with the US cheered investors.
The Nikkei climbed more than 2% at one stage before closing 0.47% higher at 21,469.20 on the prospect of tensions easing with its aggressive nuclear capable neighbour.
South Korea's Kospi was up 1.08% to close at 2,459.45. Australia, China and Hong Kong were all higher at the end of the week.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un committed to "denuclearisation" and offered to hold the first-ever talks with the US, which was immediately accepted by President Donald Trump.
In Tokyo, the Bank of Japan left its easing policy unchanged as it voted 8-1 to maintain its target for 10-year bond yields at around zero and the short-term deposit rate at minus 0.1%.
“Japan's economy is expanding moderately, with a virtuous cycle from income to spending operating. Overseas economies have continued to grow firmly on the whole,” the BoJ said.
“In this situation, exports have been on an increasing trend. On the domestic demand side, business fixed investment has continued on an increasing trend with corporate profits and business sentiment improving.”
“The year-on-year rate of change in the CPI is likely to continue on an uptrend and increase toward 2%, mainly on the back of an improvement in the output gap and a rise in medium- to long-term inflation expectations.”
On the downside, steel stocks suffered in both Japan and Korea after the US confirmed it would levy tariffs on steel and aluminum.
In Australia, shares in iconic retailer Myer plunged as the company was dumped out of the ASX 200 index.
The troubled chain lost its chief executive last month and there are now suggestions that 11% stakeholder Solomon Lew is trying to muster support to unseat the board.
Chinese stocks were higher as the consumer price index rose 2.9% in February year on year, beating forecast for 2.5% growth, and rising from 1.5% in January for the strongest annual growth rate in over four years.
However, economists expected the acceleration to be short-lived, paving the way for monetary policy to be eased in the Asian giant later in 2018.
Julian Evans-Pritchard at Capital Economics attributed the quicker rate of gains in food prices to the changes in the timing of the Chinese Lunar New Year, which in 2018 fell in February, instead of in January, with the cost of vegetables and fruits climbing sharply ahead of the holidays.
The drop seen in the prices of those same foodstuffs following the Lunar New Year last year was also expected to translate into a higher rate of CPI in coming months, but would be short-lived, he said.