Updated on
Summary The euro fetched $1.2925 and 100.11 yen, compared with $1.2911 and 100.19 yen.
Asian markets mostly rose on Friday as eurozone debt concerns were eased after Spain unveiled swingeing cuts in a budget that is expected to pave the way for a bailout.In the afternoon Hong Kong added 0.35 percent, Shanghai added 0.78 percent, while Seoul rose 0.38 percent, or 7.51 points, to close at 1,996.21 and Sydney was flat, edging up 2.8 points to 4,387.But Tokyo ended down 0.89 percent, shedding 79.71 points to 8,870.16.Spain on Thursday announced its 2013 austerity budget, with 39 billion euros ($50 billion) in savings, including a third straight year of salary freezes for civil servants.Despite days of violent street protests against measures aimed at getting the economy back on track, Mariano Rajoys government outlined plans to cut the countrys deficit from 8.9 percent last year to 2.8 percent in 2014.The move, to be followed by the release of an audit of Spains banking system on Friday, was seen by markets as one of the final acts before a sovereign bailout.Spain has already accepted a rescue loan for its banks of up to 100 billion euros.Investors welcomed the budget, with the borrowing rate on the countrys benchmark 10-year bonds easing to 5.945 percent from 6.064 percent on Wednesday.In Japan weak factory output data stoked fears over the countrys economy, compounding a damaging diplomatic spat with its largest trading partner, China.Output fell 1.3 percent month-on-month in August, a much sharper decline than an average market forecast of a 0.4 percent drop, the industry ministry said on Friday.And Shanghai, which hit a 44-month low on Wednesday, extended Thursdays strong gains on lingering expectations that the government will take the upcoming week-long public holiday as an opportunity to introduce a new round of stimulus for the slowing economy.Investors are also upbeat about a once-in-a-decade leadership handover expected next month.The market may go further north as investors are making bets on the new leadership launching measures to promote economic development, Qi Li, an investment advisor at Beijing Capital Stock Investment and Consulting, told Dow Jones Newswires.Wall Street closed in positive territory despite an unexpected downward revision to US second-quarter economic growth, to just 1.3 percent, far below the prior estimate of 1.7 percent, while durable goods orders plunged month-over-month in August.At the end of trade the Dow advanced 0.54 percent, the S&P 500 added 0.96 percent and the Nasdaq climbed 1.39 percent.In currency trade the dollar was changing hands at 77.53 yen, compared with 77.60 yen in New York late Thursday.The euro fetched $1.2925 and 100.11 yen, compared with $1.2911 and 100.19 yen.On oil markets New Yorks main contract, light sweet crude for November delivery, was up 40 cents to $92.25 a barrel in afternoon Asian trade and Brent North Sea crude for November added 25 cents to $112.26.Gold was at $1,781.40 at 0600 GMT compared with $1,753.40 on Thursday.
