The market ended gloomy at the close of last week's trading as the US government shutdown increased uncertainty for investors.
The US NFP employment report for September had to be postponed from its scheduled publication last Friday due to the Labor Department also being affected by its operations.
Non-essential services in the government sector had to be stopped after the failure of an agreement to be reached in Congress to continue funding government operations for the new fiscal year that begins in October.
Meanwhile, investors were also surprised by the situation of the Yen currency movement at the opening of the Asian session this morning which was seen to have fallen sharply.
This was following the victory of Sanae Takaichi in the leadership election of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Japan, making her the leading candidate to become the first female Prime Minister of Japan.
The significant fall in the value of the Yen was due to Takaichi being known as a "fiscal dove", who supports aggressive government spending policies.
This is seen as an extension of the “Abenomics” policies under Shinzo Abe, the former Japanese Prime Minister who was killed in a shooting incident in 2022.
Takaichi’s victory has sparked expectations that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) may delay raising interest rates, in order to support domestic demand through fiscal stimulus.
Despite the yen’s fall, Japan’s Nikkei index has surged to new highs, showing investor confidence in Japan’s economic performance going forward.
