Electronic displays reflect the current stock market trends as the financial world reacts to the COVID-19 pandemic in Tokyo on March 16, 2020 in Tokyo, Japan.
Clive Rose | Getty Images
SINGAPORE – Shares in Japan were set to open higher on Friday after the S&P 500 surged to a record close overnight on Wall Street.
Futures pointed to a positive start for Japanese stocks. The Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 29,740 while its counterpart in Osaka was at 29,700. That compared against the Nikkei 225’s last close at 29,388.87.
Japan markets are set to be a muted in the trading day ahead, as major Asia-Pacific markets such as Australia, Hong Kong, India, Singapore are closed for Good Friday. Elsewhere, markets in the U.S. and UK will also be closed on Friday for the holiday.
Overnight stateside, the S&P 500 crossed the 4,000 threshold for the first time and jumped 1.18% to a fresh record close of 4,019.87. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also surged 1.76% to end its trading day at 13,480.11 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 171.66 points to close at 33,153.21.
Currencies
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 92.929 – off levels above 93.3 seen earlier in the week.
The Japanese yen traded at 110.61 per dollar, having weakened from levels below 109.8 against the greenback earlier in the week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7616, following a bounce yesterday from below $0.756.
Source: CNBC