Investing.com-- Most Asian stocks were rangebound on Friday amid a dearth of immediate trading cues, while Japanese shares sank in anticipation of a hotly contested general election set to take place this weekend.
Regional markets took middling cues from a mildly positive overnight close on Wall Street, with U.S. stocks still nursing losses for the week. U.S. stock index futures steadied in Asian trade as focus turned to a barrage of megacap technology earnings due next week.lost 0.8% as investors turned wary of Japanese markets before a general election this Sunday. Japanese indexes were also the worst performers in Asia this week, losing about 3% each.
Such a scenario is likely to make it tougher for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to enact economic and monetary policy reforms, sparking more uncertainty over the Japanese economy.