Stocks in Asia were mixed overnight with the Nikkei (^N225) rising 2% on the day in Japan, following a rollercoaster few days in Tokyo after new prime minister Shigeru Ishiba dampened speculation over an interest rate hike.
The dollar gained against the Japanese yen helping push Tokyo’s index higher. It gained 2.2% to 38,655.03, while the dollar traded at 146.80 Japanese yen, up from 146.41 yen late Wednesday.
The dollar had been trading around 142 yen after the ruling Liberal Democrats chose Shigeru Ishiba to head the party and succeed Fumio Kishida as prime minister. Ishiba had expressed support for the central bank’s recent moves to raise its near-zero benchmark interest rate, which stands at around 0.25%. That led traders to bet that the yen would gain in value.
But after a meeting between Ishiba and Bank of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda, both officials indicated that the central bank did not view further rate hikes as suitable for the economy at this time. That prompted a flurry of selling of yen.
Meanwhile the Hang Seng (^HSI) fell 1.3% in Hong Kong after a weeklong surge in which they soared around 20%. The Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was still closed for a national holiday.
Across the pond on Wall Street, the Dow Jones (^DJI) rose 0.1%, to 42,196.52, and the S&P 500 (^GSPC) was flat, closing at 5,709.54. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose 0.1% during the session to end at 17,925.12.
In the bond market, the yield on benchmark 10-year US Treasury notes rose to 3.78%, from 3.74% late on Tuesday.