Following a landslide victory by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition on Sunday, Japan is expected to set into motion a new set of economy-spurring measures.
The newly empowered prime minister is looking to revive ‘Abenomics’ -- his policy for energizing the nation's economy—and will put together more than 10 trillion yen ($99.33 billion) worth of measures, including loans and labor market reforms. It will also issue the first additional series of new government bonds in four years to fund a supplementary budget.
Abenomics, a range of reflationary policies designed to boost the Japanese economy was implemented in 2012 in order to lift equities and weaken the yen after Abe took office. Most economists believe it has not done much to boost the broader economy.
Y10 Trillion
Abe outlined his views for the latest package at a news conference on Monday afternoon. The exact details are to be worked out in early August preceding the submission by the government to the Diet of the supplementary budget in September. The new stimulus package is rumored to cost close to Y10 Trillion.
The Japan election results as well as a strong U.S. jobs report last Friday pushed Asia markets up Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 rallied 4.14 percent, while the Topix was up 3.95 percent. The gains came despite the yen remaining relatively strong, with the dollar-yen currency pair at 101.13 at 12:47 p.m. HK/SIN.
Australia's ASX 200 was up 1.76 percent, following Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declaration that his ruling coalition won the extremely close election. Major Australian banks rallied, with shares of ANZ climbing 3.2 percent. The Australian dollar climbed to $0.7542.