Nikkei advances before NFP report

Japanese stocks have climbed today (December 6th), ahead of the US labour market report that could encourage the Federal Reserve to begin scaling back its monetary stimulus. 

The November non-farm payrolls report will be published at 13:30 GMT and will show how many jobs were added by American employers last month. 

Fed policymakers are known to see this data as a key indicator of economic strength in the country and it is thought another strong result - following last month's gain of 204,000 - may be enough to speed up the central bank's reduction in its asset purchases.

The Nikkei 225 index closed 0.8 per cent higher for the session at 15,299.86 points, but still recorded its first weekly decline in a month, having shed 2.3 per cent since Monday.

On the whole, Asian shares generally declined today, with the Hang Seng slipping by 0.2 per cent and the Shanghai Composite falling by 0.6 per cent.