by Chris Becker
Following the good lead from overnight was pretty obvious in the Asian session, with Japanese stocks rallying and the Yen weakening on the back of comments by the finance minister Ishihara saying that BOJ monetary policy has not been wrong and the government will continue to “co-operate” with its stimulus measures.
It wasn’t all blue skies elsewhere, with the Shanghai Composite treading water just before the close while the ASX200 finished up only 0.2% as retail sales growth disappointed earlier in the session.