Japanese stocks moved higher on Monday, while the rest of the
region made only small gains, after a Group of 20 meeting ended
with a plan to spur economic growth.
The main economic news out over the weekend came from Australia,
where G-20 officials ended a summit over the weekend saying that
they would look to boost global growth by more than $2 trillion
over the next few years under a strategy crafted by the
International Monetary Fund.
Under the plan, advanced economies would continue to implement
easy money policies, while emerging markets would work to
restructure their economies and keep inflation at bay.
The Nikkei started the session with a fall, but quickly flipped
into positive territory, as the yen weakened slightly in Asian
trade. The Nikkei Stock Average was up 0.6%, with the dollar last
at Yen102.63, compared with Yen102.48 late Friday in New York.
Tokyo was adding to strong gains from last week, with the index
up 3.9% over the previous five sessions--its first weekly gain in
2014. The market was boosted by a surprise Bank of Japan
announcement last week to increase incentives designed to lift bank
lending.
The exchange rate between the dollar and the yen could be
impacted later in the week by a string of upcoming U.S. economic
indicators--such as January new home sales and durable goods
orders, as well as revised fourth-quarter gross domestic product
figures.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2%, despite a number of major
stocks going ex-dividend--meaning that new buyers of the stock will
no longer receive the next dividend. Retailer Wesfarmers lost 2.5%
and Telstra Corp. was 2.9% lower.
South Korea's Kospi was up 0.1%.
Write to Daniel Inman at daniel.inman@wsj.com
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