Asian markets extended their pre-weekend rally on Monday as better than expected numbers out of Japan helped investors focus on positive news out of Tokyo and Washington.
Japanese machinery orders in December only dropped 1.7%, a significant improvement over the 8.9% expected by economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires and a drastic improvement over the 16.2% drop witnessed in November. Machinery orders signal capital spending in the next 3 to 6 months. Orders are expected to rise 4.1% in the current quarter that ends in March according to a government survey. Japanese exporters were also buoyed by the expectation of a speedy passage of the economic stimulus package currently being debated in the Senate and the weaker yen which reached its one month low against the dollar on Friday.
While there was no shortage of bad news following last Friday’s announcement U.S. jobless claims rose 598,000 in January, reaching their highest level since 1974, Asian markets appeared to be putting the worst behind them and focusing on positive news. Shares in Nomura fell after it said it may need to raise up to Y300bn as it needs to replenish capital and absorb former Lehman Brothers employees.
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