Asian shares were mostly higher Friday on hopes for additional economic stimulus after U. S. Congress confirmed Joe Biden as the winner of the presidential election.
Japan’s state of emergency to combat surging coronavirus cases, which kicked in Friday, did little to dampen market optimism.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 1.7% in morning trading to 27,965.50.
Wall Street’s latest rally adds to gains from a day before, when stocks rose on the results of two Senate runoff elections in Georgia that went to the Democrats.
——— AP Business Writers Stan Choe and Alex Veiga contributed.