john ladue has details from the tokyo stock exchange. >> i investors were pleasantly surprised about that opec oil deal. the gains in crude futures boosted and the. weaker yen helped exporters. let's see how the levels turned out this september 29th. closing at 16,693 and the broader topix also rose 0.9%. and we saw more risk appetite in the currency market as well. the dollar sharply rose against the yen. as many investors sold safer assets like japan's currency. now, oil-related stocks surged. japan petroleum exploration gained 8.8%. inpex rose 5.7%. a major exporter also saw significant gains on the weaker yen. panasonic rose nearly 3%. but higher oil prices are not good news for everyone. shares of major airline companies took a hit as the rising cost of fuel is believed to be squeezing profits both japan airlines and ana holdings ended lowewer. including the consumer price index and industrial production data both for last month. john ladue reporting from the tokyo stock exchange. >>> upward momentum spilled over across the asia pacific region. hong kong's hang seng index was up

john ladue reporting from the tokyo stock exchange. >>> a new survey says japan has lost some of its competitive edge in the world. the world economic forum think tank has released its global competitive index or cgi. officials at the institute h ha put japan in eighthth placace. down two notches from last yea. ththe three chart t topping economies remained unchanged. switzerland came in first. singapore second and the u.s. was third. as for other asian economies, hong kong ranked ninth. and china was 28th. institute officials praised japan's infrastructure and the large sums its companies spent on research and development. but they said that participation of women in the economy was low compared to other industrialized nations. and they said japan was a less attractive destination for foreign talent. >>> ceo of spacex says his company is developing a massive rocket with the goal of colonizing mars. musk says they could launch a manned mission to mars with a craft ear a a2024. theusable rocket would fir orbit ee earth where it refuelss bere heading to mars. the spaceship couldld reac

john ladue reporting from the tokyo stock exchange. >>> moving onto china, the latest private survey put the purchasing managers index for manufacturing at 50.1 in september. that's marginally up from the previous month. the shanghai composite added 0.2% and recovered the 3,000 mark for the first time in a week. sentiment improved one day before the imf includes the yuan. hang seng tumbling 1.9%. the lowest in more than two weeks. all sectors ended in the negative with banks leading the way. here's about european banks dragged down others in the asia pacific region as well. seoul's kospi was down 1.2%. singapore slid more than half a percent. >>> friday marks the deadline for new member countries to join the asian infrastructure investment bank. its expanded membership is likely to exceed the asian development bank led by japan and the u.s. more than 20 new members includuding canada, a g7 member have reportedly applied to join the aiib. the bank was launched by china last year to help build infrastructure in asia. britain and some of asia's developing economies are among the bank's

john ladue reporting from the tokyo stock exchange. >>> moving on to other markets of the asia pacific region, the fed decision eased concerns about money flowing out of the region. sydney extended its winning streak to a fourth day posting the sharpest weekly gain in almost two months. up a little over 1%. moving to shanghai. the composite there down by 0.25% snapping two days of gains. property shares rallying on thursday. the overall picture was mixed in seoul up by 0.2%. indonesia adding 0.16% today one day after the central bank there cut interest rates. >>> the planned merger of two major chinese steel makers has been welcomed by a top japanese business leader. shoji minuoka has been leading a delegation from the japan/china economic association in beijing since tuesday. one of the reasons for the trip was to -- on thursday it was announced that the shanghai based group was merging withh te group. the merger willl create the world's second largest prododuc. >> translator: over-capacity in steel production c caused by cha is having a significant impact. it's like a whale diving in