The BOJ is not expected to hike its benchmark rate when it wraps up its meeting on Friday, but the economy is under pressure from the dollar’s prolonged rise against the Japanese yen
Asian shares mostly rose Thursday, as investors turned their attention to what the Bank of Japan might decide on monetary policy later this week.
The BOJ is not expected to hike its benchmark rate when it wraps up its meeting on Friday, but the economy is under pressure from the dollar’s prolonged rise against the Japanese yen.
Given the recent ‘hawkish hold’ outcome from the Fed, if the Bank of Japan were to stick to its usual accommodative tone in terms of policy settings, that may pave the way for the upward trend in the U.S. dollar to the Japanese yen to continue, Yeap Jun Rong, a market analyst at IG, said in a commentary.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 157.01 Japanese yen from 156.71 yen. The euro cost $1.0807, down from $1.0812.
As expected, the Fed kept its main interest rate steady on Wednesday after its latest policy meeting. And Treasury yields declined after a report on inflation showed U.S. consumers paid prices that were 3.3% higher for food, insurance and everything else last month from a year earlier. Economists had been expecting to see the inflation rate at 3.4%.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.1% in morning trading to 38,831.36. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 soared 0.5% to 7,751.00. South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.4% to 2,766.99. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added nearly 0.4% to 18,001.18, while the Shanghai Composite dropped 0.4% to 3,026.27.
Wednesday on Wall Street, the S&P 500 advanced 0.9% to its all-time high set a day earlier, ending at 5,421.03. The Nasdaq composite also built on its own record and climbed 1.5% to 17,608.44. The DJIA lagged the market with a decline of 0.1% to 38,712.21.
