South Korea’s Kospi rose 2% to a record high on Friday amid regional gains after the White House said US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping would hold talks next week.
US press secretary Caroline Leavitt said Trump will travel to Malaysia late on Friday and then travel to Japan and South Korea, where he will meet Xi next Thursday after speaking at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit, Reuters reported.
South Korea’s small-cap Kosdaq was 0.92% higher. The country’s finance ministry said on Friday it was ready to intervene to stabilize the foreign exchange market if necessary, amid continued volatility in the won-dollar trade.
South Korea’s won, which gained 0.11% to 1,434.7 against the dollar on Friday, has fallen more than 4% against the US dollar in the past three months. This year it has grown by 2.86% against the dollar.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.78%, while the Topix added 0.39%. Japan’s core inflation rate accelerated to 2.9% in September, the first increase since May and in line with the expectations of economists polled by Reuters.
That was more than the 2.7% recorded in August, reports SEEbiz. Japan’s core inflation metric excludes fresh food prices but includes energy costs.
Headline inflation in Japan also rose to 2.9% from 2.7% the previous month.
Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 traded 0.19% higher at the open. Governor Michele Bullock said on Friday that the Reserve Bank of Australia plans to review upgrades to the nation’s interbank settlement system from next year.
She said the central bank would examine ways to modernize the Reserve Bank’s Information and Transfer System – the nation’s platform for interbank settlement – including adopting newer data exchange technology, extending business hours and expanding the use of central bank money for settlements.
