Asian stocks follow U.S. higher; Nikkei Jumps 1.6%

Asian stocks rallied Friday, following their U.S. counterparts higher on new policymakers in the U.S. are working to craft a deal that would end the government shutdown there. The shutdown, the first since the 1990s, is into its eleventh day. 

In Asian trading Friday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.6%. Earlier Friday, the Bank of Japan said that country’s corporate goods price index fell to 2.3% last month after an August reading of 2.4%. Analysts expected a September reading of 2.3%. 

In a separate report, BoJ said Japan’s M2 money supply was unchanged last month at 3.8%. The August number was revised up to 3.8% from 3.7%. Analysts expected a September reading of 3.7%. 

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.27% while the Shanghai Composite advanced 0.88%. Policymakers from both parties are expected to meet with President Obama late into Thursday night in the U.S. to hammer out a deal. 

In U.S. economic news out Thursday, the Labor Department said U.S. initial jobless claims rose to 374,000 last week, an increase of 66,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 308,000. 

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 surged 1.7% ahead of some key Chinese data. China, the world’s second-largest economy, is due to release key export and import data. Chinese imports probably rose 7% in September from a year earlier after increasing by the same amount the previous month, Bloomberg reported. 

Economists are forecasting 5.5% export growth for September after a 7.2% in August. China is Australia’s largest export market. The data is due out Saturday. 

New Zealand’s NZSE 50 rose 0.54% while Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.53%. South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.2% despite the won flirting with eight-month highs. 

S&P 500 futures rose 0.20% a day after the benchmark U.S. index soared 2.18%.