The Japanese yen falls to above 156 against the US dollar after the Bank of Japan on Friday kept its policy rate unchanged at 0.0-0.1 percent – as expected. The central bank also announces that it will carry out bond purchases that are in line with the March decision.
The yen thus remains at its weakest levels against the dollar in 34 years, and speculation is swirling about whether the Japanese authorities can intervene as early as today.
On the Tokyo stock exchange, the Nikkei rose 0.9 percent to 37,960.14, while the broader Topix index added 0.8 percent to 2,685.77.
Strong price drop
Elsewhere on the macro front, April inflation came in at 1.8 per cent on an annual basis, down from 2.6 per cent the previous month. Core inflation fell from 2.4 to 1.6 percent on an annual basis, against the Reuters consensus of 2.2 percent.
In the rest of the Asia and Pacific region, the large cap index CSI 300 is up around one per cent in Shanghai, while the Shanghai Composite index is up 0.8 per cent.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng rose 2 percent, while the Kospi index in South Korea climbed one percent. In Australia, the Sydney stock exchange is down 1.2 percent after macro figures on Friday showed the fastest growth in producer prices since the first quarter of 2023.
AI rally in Taiwan
We also take into account that the Taiwan stock market rises 1.6 percent, led by Hon Hai Precision Industry which jumps up over 4 percent after the announcement that the American software company Cerence will supply a voice-activated AI assistant to Hon Hai’s electric car subsidiary Foxtron. According to Cerence, the system has bilingual recognition of Taiwanese Mandarin and English.
Hon Hai shares have risen almost 50 percent so far this year.
Tags: Stock market recovery Asia yen fall interest rate verdict
