TOKYO (AP) — Shares inched higher in European trading Friday after a mixed session in Asia, where many regional markets were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Tokyo ended Friday up less than 0.1% after touching a 34-year high earlier in the day. It closed at 36,897.42, helped by comments by a Bank of Japan official who said the central bank would likely stick to its lax monetary policy even if it raises its minus 0.1% benchmark rate above zero.
Germany’s DAX was little changed at 16,973.32 and the CAC 40 in Paris also was flat, at 7,665.13. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.1% to 7,605.15.
The future for the S&P 500 gained less than 0.1% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was unchanged.
Markets in mainland China were closed and Hong Kong had a half-day session, where the Hang Seng shed 0.8% to 15,746.58. Markets in China will be closed next week.
China’s securities regulator capped a week of measures aimed at shoring up wobbly financial markets by announcing it had punished dozens of people at one of the country’s biggest brokerages for insider trading and other crimes.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added nearly 0.1% to 7,644.80. Thailand’s SET edged 0.2% higher.
On Thursday, U.S. stocks ticked higher on signs that the job market remains remarkably solid. The S&P 500 inched up 0.1% and the Dow also set an all-time high, gaining 0.1%. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.2%.
The latest show of strength about the American economy came from a report indicating fewer workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than expected.
In prior months, such a report may have hurt the stock market because of concerns that it would mean a longer wait for cuts to interest rates from the Federal Reserve. But investors have been coming around to the idea that good news on the economy is good for stocks because it will drive profits for companies.
In other trading Friday, benchmark U.S. crude added 16 cents to $76.38 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 4 cents to $81.59 a barrel.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar inched up to 149.39 Japanese yen from 149.32 yen. The euro cost $1.0767, down from $1.0780.
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