The flagship Nikkei index fell 0.68% to 26,387.72 points, following having already fallen the day before by nearly 2.5% in the wake of the BoJ’s announcements. The broader Topix index lost 0.64% to 1,893.32 points.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange closed Wednesday in the red for a fifth session in a row, still shaken by the unexpected adjustment of the monetary policy of the Bank of Japan the day before, which gave wings to the yen.
The flagship Nikkei index fell 0.68% to 26,387.72 points, following having already fallen the day before by nearly 2.5% in the wake of the BoJ’s announcements. The broader Topix index lost 0.64% to 1,893.32 points.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index rebounded slightly (+0.22% around 06:40 GMT) following significant losses the day before due to the health crisis in China.
The Bank of Japan surprised on Tuesday by releasing ballast on its tight control of Japanese ten-year bond yields, having raised the ceiling it tolerates to 0.5% once morest 0.25% previously.
This has intensified speculation on a normalization next year of the BoJ’s ultra-accommodating monetary policy, maintained until now despite the drastic monetary tightening conducted in the United States and Europe in the face of inflation.
The Bank of Japan, however, denied these speculations, assuring that its intention was rather to correct the distortions on the Japanese bond market caused by its ultra-accommodating monetary policy, in order to make the latter more sustainable.
On the side of values
EXPORT VALUES: Japanese export stocks continued to stick their tongues out as the yen rose strongly once morest the dollar in the wake of the BoJ’s partial reversal. Automobile giant Toyota fell 2% to 1,808 yen, Honda 2.62% to 3,038 yen and Nissan 3.41% to 413.4 yen. Sony lost 1.59% to 10,185 yen.
Conversely, Japanese financial stocks once once more benefited from the prospect of seeing their margins improve with the rise in bond yields in Japan: Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group took off 3.92% to 850.5 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group by 4.12% to 5,179 yen.
On the side of currencies and oil
The dollar rose a little to 132.20 yen around 06:55 GMT, once morest 131.73 yen on Tuesday at 21:00 GMT. The yen rose nearly 4% once morest the greenback on Tuesday, its biggest single-session gain since 1998.
The euro was trading for 140.29 yen once morest 139.95 yen the day before at 21:00 GMT. The European currency had also melted on Tuesday once morest the yen.
The euro was trading for 1.0612 dollars, once morest 1.0624 dollars the day before.
On the oil market, the barrel of American WTI advanced by 0.18% to 76.37 dollars around 06:45 GMT and the barrel of Brent from the North Sea rose by 0.33% to 80.25 dollars.