Asian stocks moved higher in the final.......>

STOCKS: Asian stocks moved higher in the final session of the week after the

S&P500 closed at a 2-week high, as USDJPY flirted with 106.00, although large

areas of the region were closed owing to the LNY holiday. The Nikkei 225 traded

just shy of 400 points, or 1.80%, higher aided by the re-appointment of BoJ

Governor Kuroda for a second term. Utilities & IT lead the way as Telecoms

lagged. This followed the pattern seen in US dealing were Telecoms came under

pressure and Apple was named in Berkshire Hathaway's top picks, which supported

the tech sector. Elsewhere, Australia's ASX was more reluctant to trade higher,

last up around 0.1%, with South 32 coming under pressure following several

brokerage downgrades. US futures have posted modest gains thus far, with the

mini S&P 1.5 ticks higher and the mini Dow 22 ticks higher.