The logo of Japanese high-tech giant Hitachi at an exhibition held in Tokyo on October 29th, 2013. Hitachi announced that the group’s net profit rose 8.8% in the first half of the fiscal year, to a weaker yen and cost reductions, up to 32.777 billion yen from the previous year. AFP Photo/Yoshikazu Tsuno (Photo credits must read Yoshikazu Island/AFP/Getty Images)
Yoshikazu Horn | AFP | Getty Images
The Japanese Prime Minister’s shares rose more than 9% after announcing its partnership with Openai late Thursday, and announced it had built artificial intelligence infrastructure and data centers around the world.
Nikkei 225 in Japan Topix rose 1.33% and 1.57%.
The country’s unemployment rate rose to 2.6% in August, with government data on Friday showing that it was higher than the 2.4% expected at the 2.3% rate last month, with Reuters voted for.
The S&P Global Japan Services Purchasing Managers’Index rose to 53.3 on September 53.3, increasing due to strengthening domestic demand amid declining new export operations.
“Services recorded a month of solid growth, while manufacturers reported a sharp decline in production amid weak sales. As a result, the overall private sector has grown at its slowest speed since May.”
Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 rose 0.27%.
Hong Kong Hangsen index The Hang Seng Tech index fell by 1.21% and retreated by 0.47%.
India’s Nifty 50 The Sensex index lost 0.36% and fell 0.16%.
The Chinese and Korean markets were closed on holidays.
US stock futures changed little in the early hours of Asia after three major US indexes closed at record highs as investors shrugged off the US government shutdown.
Investors are waiting to see how long the closure will last to assess the severity of its economic impact. Historically, US government closures have not been a market-driven event.
Overnight, the S&P 500 rose 0.06%, while the Dow Jones industrial average rose over 78 points, or nearly 0.2%. The Nasdaq composite rose about 0.4%, and was mounted on Nvidia’s 0.9% increase, which pushed chipmakers to the highest ever. Other chipmakers also gained positions, with Intel and AMD each rising by more than 3%.
The US government shutdown has forced the Labor Bureau to suspend all activities, including the scheduled release of its September non-farm salary report on Friday. This reduces the amount of economic data the Federal Reserve can impose on interest rate decisions at its October meeting, but also removes factors that could put pressure on stocks.
– CNBC’s Pia Singh and Sean Conlon contributed to this report.
Fix: This story was updated to reflect the period of PMI data and unemployment data that Japan released its service.
