JUNEASIA BUSINESS OUTLOOK9Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Friday that Japan and South Korea may debate this month what will happen to a bilateral currency exchange agreement that was supposed to end years ago. However, some officials expressed scepticism about such expectations.The bilateral financial discussion between Suzuki and his South Korean counterpart Choo Kyung-ho will take place on June 29 thanks to the two Asian neighbours.The Japan-South Korea currency exchange agreement, which had been a representation of the two countries' financial cooperation and had functioned as a safety net in case of a currency crisis, ended in February 2015 amid deteriorating relations.The heads of finance for the respective nations will talk about infrastructure investment abroad, coordination at the G7 and G20, regional and bilateral financial cooperation, as well as bilateral collaboration in taxation and customs.According to Suzuki, it might involve a swap agreement between Japan and South Korea. That is all I can disclose at this time because we are finalising our plans for June 29.the Chiang Mai Initiative, an international currency swap plan for the region The importance of multilateralization and other bilateral swap agreements as financial safety nets will probably also be discussed.A representative of the Japanese administration had previously stated that they were unsure of how the bilateral currency swap negotiations would progress. NEWSROOMSOUTH KOREA & JAPAN TO DISCUSS BILATERAL CURRENCY EXCHANGE AGREEMENTMost Asian stocks rose on Friday as weak U.S. labour data increased bets on a pause in the Federal Reserve's rate hike cycle, though disappointing Chinese inflation data limited broader gains.As Fed pause bets rise, technology stocks lead gains.Technology-heavy indexes such as South Korea's KOSPI and Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted index each rose 0.9 percent on Friday, as an unexpected increase in weekly U.S. jobless claims increased bets that the Fed will keep rates unchanged next week.The Nikkei 225 and TOPIX in Japan were the best performers for the day, rising 1.7 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively, and returning to 33-year highs reached earlier in the week. Positive economic data from the country, most notably an upward revision to first-quarter GDP, aided sentiment towards domestic stocks.Sentiment towards technology stocks was also boosted by a rush into artificial intelligence-exposed stocks, which are expected to increase significantly in value this year.Chinese search engine giant Baidu Inc (HK:9888) (NASDAQ:BIDU), which has its own AI tool in development, rose 1.2 percent, while Japanese semiconductor testing equipment maker Advantest Corp (TYO:6857) added 1.1% percent.A strong overnight finish on Wall Street gave local stocks a boost, as the S&P 500 entered a bull market after recovering from recent lows. ASIAN STOCKS RISE AS THE FED WITHDRAWS ITS BETS, BUT CHINA LAGS DUE TO LOW INFLATION
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