The Nikkei 225 moved into the lunch break....>

STOCKS: The Nikkei 225 moved into the lunch break in positive territory up

118.48pts at 20414.93, early on in the session it was 40pts higher. Nikkei

manufacturing PMI figures came in strong, suggesting the local economy is

getting stronger, paired with other strong data last week such better than

expected surveyed data for imports and exports. Since this time last week when

we heard President Abe will call a snap election, the Nikkei has gained 2.6%.

Stocks came down on this session after announcement of more purchases by the BOJ

but at the same rate as last week, to come back up after Trump added N. Korea to

his list of countries banned from the U.S.

- Hang Seng is currently down around 230pts, real estate is contributing heavily

to the decline. The CSI 300 down 11pts and the ASX200 up 10 pts.

- US/EU stocks closed mixed on Friday, approaching the election in Germany and

US fairing worse amongst fear instilled by President Kim Jong-Un.

- USD/JPY is up currently at 112.19 earlier in the session hovering at high

levels seen on Friday post FOMC which represented highest levels since July.