Japan Shares See Tepid Movement

Japanese shares saw a tepid movement on Friday in choppy trading as investors remained cautious ahead of the release of the US Labor Department's closely-watched monthly jobs report for September later in the day. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is currently up 0.12% to 21,366 after heavy pounding yesterday. The services sector in Japan continued to expand in September, latest survey from Jibun Bank revealed on Friday with a PMI score of 52.8. That's down from the 22-month high of 53.3 in August. The survey also showed that the composite index came in at 51.5, down from 51.9 in August.
Meanwhile, Japan's government raised the national sales tax to 10% from 8%. This can weigh on the economy in near term. The economy expanded at a slower pace in the second quarter than initially reported. Gross domestic product grew at an annualized pace of 1.3% in the three months through June from the previous quarter, according to revised Cabinet Office data, compared with a preliminary reading of 1.8%.

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