Il Japanese Nikkei rose as markets opened on Monday, adding to gains posted on news of the deal to stabilize Europe's banking system, and despite disappointing data on China's industrial sector released over the weekend.
Japan's index gained 0,8% to 9.068,33 points, while the broader Topix also rose 0,8% to 776.01. On the ASX24, the SPI futures index gained 38 points to 4095. The Australian dollar it rose to a two-month high against the US dollar. If close to the summit the "Aussie" was already trading at 1,0264 US dollars, up from 1,0264 on Friday, on Monday morning it reached 1,0268, its highest level since May 4th.
Australia now looks forward to tomorrow's Reserve Bank meeting which will decide the fate of Australian interest rates. Markets expect no movement in the cash rate, currently at 3,5%, after data on GDP growth for the quarter ended March proved stronger than expected. Craig James, chief economist at CommSec, says the Australian market will have a positive start to the new financial year which begins in July. "We have already moved ahead of the good news on the European front better than Europe and the United States - he declared - and we still have good room for manoeuvre".
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/02/markets-japan-stocks-idUSL3E8I200420120702
