Tokyo, Australia Markets Rise

Japanese and Australian markets rose Thursday after swings on Wall Street overnight, as data pointing to a contraction in the U.S. economy in the first quarter heightened investors’ fears of a looming recession.In Japan, the Nikkei 225 hiking 406.92 points, or 1.1%, to 36,452,30.Earlier in the day, the Bank of Japan held interest rates steady at 0.5% in a unanimous vote.Yields on 10-year Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs) fell by 5.4 basis points to 1.259% following the central bank’s decision. Meanwhile, yields on 20-year JGBs dropped marginally by 1.5 basis points to 2.184%.The Japanese yen depreciated 1.06% to 144.58 per dollar.In Australia, markets rose marginally. The movement comes ahead of Australia’s elections on Saturday and marks the index’s fifth consecutive session in positive territory.The country’s surplus on trade goods widened sharply to 6.9 billion Australian dollars ($4.42 billion U.S.) in March, from a revised reading of 2.85 billion Australian dollars the month before.The latest number is well above the 3.9-billion-Australian-dollar surplus forecast in a Reuters poll and comes as iron ore exports recovered from weather disruptions and gold shipments climbed, data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday showed.In this time, Australia’s exports jumped 7.6% year-on-year, while imports declined 2.2%.Markets in Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore, Korea and Taiwan were closed for the May Day holiday. In other marketsIn New Zealand, the NZX 50 regrouped 245.28 points, or 2.1%, to 12,148.60In Australia, the ASX 200 picked up 19.39 points, or 0.2%, to 8,145.60