Japanese investors are keeping a close eye on the G-20 summit in Argentina on Friday when President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to meet and discuss trade issues. The summit will be watched closely for how relations between both countries develop, in addition to further news surrounding Sino-US trade. China's main goal at the G20 meeting is to get the United States to refrain from raising the tariffs in January. Trump is open to a deal with China but is ready to impose more tariffs if the upcoming talks don't yield progress. Japan has close economic ties with both countries and the ongoing tariff spat threatens to dampen Japan's export sector.
Many are hoping that the meeting would help ease trade tensions between the two countries, which have applied additional tariffs on billions of dollars worth of each other's products.
President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday that he was "close" to doing something on trade with China but added he wasn't sure if he wanted to do it. "Because what we have right now is billions and billions of dollars coming into the United States in the form of tariffs or taxes, so I really don't know," he said.
On the economic front, industrial production in Japan was up a seasonally adjusted 2.9% on month in October, following the 0.4% decline in September, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in Friday's preliminary reading. Manufacturers surveyed by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) expect output to rise 0.6% in November and increase 2.2% in December, data showed.
The unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 2.4% in October, unchanged from the September reading, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday. The job-to-applicant ratio was down from 1.64 in the previous month. The number of employed persons in October was 67.25 million, an increase of 1.44 million or 2.2% on year. The number of unemployed persons in October was 1.63 million, a decrease of 180,000 or 9.9% on year.
Core consumer prices in Tokyo rose 1% in November from a year earlier, government data showed on Friday. The core consumer price index for Japan's capital, which includes oil products but excludes fresh food prices, compared with economists' median estimate for a 1% annual rise. The Tokyo index is available a month before nationwide core CPI, and serves as a leading indicator of consumer inflation.
CURRENCY NEWS: Japanese yen was down in the lower-113 yen zone against greenback on Friday, predominantly in line with its levels in New York overnight. The dollar was quoted at 113.41-42 yen compared with 113.43-45 yen in New York and 113.24-25 yen on Thursday in Tokyo. The euro, meanwhile, fetched 129.19-26 yen against 129.23-33 yen in New York and 128.92-96 yen in Thursday trade in Tokyo.
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OFFSHORE MARKET NEWS: Wall Street stocks closed slight lower on Thursday, as the minutes of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting held earlier this month seemed to reinforce expectations for another quarter-point increase in interest rates next month. The minutes said that almost all participants agreed another increase in rates was "likely to be warranted fairly soon." The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 27.59 points or 0.1% to 25,338.84. The broad-based S&P 500 index dipped 5.99 points or 0.2% to 2,737.80. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 18.51 points or 0.3% to 7,273.08.
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