Market update: Japan in the ascendency; Portugal underperforms in Europe

US equities ended on a sour note on Friday (S&P 500 -0.7%; Dow Jones -0.5%) with a disappointing US non-farm payrolls report the key driver. US employers created just 88,000 jobs in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ estimate, significantly below the 200,000 that analysts had been expecting. This capped a generally poor week for US macroeconomic data.

Overnight, Japan’s Nikkei is within striking distance of a five-year closing high, and the yen has dropped to its lowest level since June 2009. This comes after the Bank of Japan’s announcement last week that it would increase its purchases of Japanese government bonds to 7.5 trillion yen per month, setting a two-year horizon to reach its target for 2% inflation.

European markets have begun cautiously this morning (FTSE Eurofirst 300 +0.5%; FTSE 100 +0.4%), inching up following their losses on Friday. At the country level, Portugal is a relative underperformer after it hit the headlines this weekend: the Portuguese constitutional court rejected the government’s latest proposal of austerity measures. Lisbon must now find other ways to reduce spending in order to meet the terms of its European bailout.