Nikkei gains on expectation Fed may taper stimulus soon

Japanese stocks rose on Friday, recovering some of the losses seen in the past two days, as the yen weakened against the dollar on expectations that the Federal Reserve could start tapering its stimulus soon.

The Nikkei ended 0.8 per cent higher at 15,299.86 points after trading as low as 15,177.49 earlier in the session. For the week, the Nikkei dropped 2.3 per cent, the first weekly decline in a month.

The Topix added 0.5 per cent to 1,235.83 in thin trade as investors cautiously awaited the outcome of the key US jobs report later in the day. Only 2.06 billion shares changed hands, the lowest level since Oct 21.

Traders also said investors reacted to a Bloomberg report with the head of an advisory panel of the Government Pension Investment Fund, saying the pension fund should sell bonds now.

Takatoshi Ito, the head of the panel, said last month that GPIF could lower the weighting of JGBs to the floor of 52 per cent under its current allocation strategy, which could be done in the near-term.

Copyright: Thomson Reuters 2013