Investing.com - Asian shares gained on Monday with Japan up smartly off remarks froma central bank board member that suggested easy policy would continue for some time.
The S&P/ASX 200 eked out a 0.05% gain, while the Shanghai Composite rose a small 0.10%. The Nikkei 225 gained 1.50%.
Bank of Japan board member Takehiro Sato Monday said he remains skeptical about the BOJ anchoring 2% inflation by the end of its
three-year projection period through March 2018, though growth may sustain, according to reports.
Despite downside risks to prices, Sato said he believes "it is possible to generally maintain the annual growth pace of around 1% throughout the projection period, excluding the effects of the decline in energy prices."
"I also regard the price stability target itself as a flexible concept with a certain range for upward and downward deviations of the actual inflation rate from the target. I believe such commitment is as reasonable as the framework of the inflation target adopted by central banks in other major countries."
At its latest policy meeting on Nov. 18-19, the BOJ board decided by an 8 to 1 vote to leave the bank's policy target unchanged while maintaining its outlook that the domestic economy will stay on a modest recovery track despite flat exports and factory output as well as slow business investment and wage growth.
Last week, U.S. stocks soared more than 2% erasing all of their losses from the previous day's sell-off, as the release of a strong monthly jobs report possibly solidified an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve later this month.
On Friday morning, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that nonfarm payrolls in November increased by 211,000 on a monthly basis, following a robust report a month earlier that firmly placed December lift-off from the Fed on the table. Investors received further evidence of considerable improvements in the labor market when the Labor Department revised gains from October by 27,000 to 298,000. The unemployment rate remained steady at 5.0%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 369.96 or 2.17% to 17,847.63, finishing with one of its strongest one-day moves in three months. It came one day after the Dow fell as much as 300 points after European Central Bank president Mario Draghi spooked markets worldwide by implementing limited easing measures at a closely-watched meeting. The NASDAQ Composite index also posted solid gains on the day gaining 104.74 or 2.08% to 5,142.27.
The S&P 500 Composite index, meanwhile, added 42.07 or 2.05% to 2,091.69, as nine of 10 sectors closed in the green. Stocks in the Health Care, Financials and Telecommunications industries led, each gaining more than 2% on the session. Stocks in the energy sector lagged. The S&P closed the week with one of its best single day moves in nearly two months.