Asian stock markets opened in the green on Thursday, particularly in Tokyo where the Nikkei briefly exceeded 3% thanks to the low yen and the rise in technology stocks, after an initially negative reaction from Wall Street to a mixed inflation indicator. The leading Nikkei index in the Japanese capital jumped 3.06% to 36,708.82 points at 00:56 GMT and the broader Topix index gained 2.44% to 2,592.32 points.
Japanese markets “should start the day with a significant increase thanks to the advance of technology stocks and the weakening of the yen”commented analyst Toshiyuki Kanayama of Monex. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index rose 0.22% to 17,146.63 points around 0200 GMT. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.04% to 2,723.02 points, and the Shenzhen Composite Index rose 0.07% to 1,500.64 points.
The day before, the August consumer price index (CPI) in the United States showed inflation standing at 2.5% over one year, a level broadly in line with analysts’ expectations, the lowest since February 2021. But core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, rebounded over one month, to 0.3% in August against 0.2% in July.
These were the latest data released before the US Federal Reserve (Fed) meets next week, as it prepares to make the first rate cut of this monetary cycle. “The US CPI report has reinforced speculation of a reduction in key rates (…) which has temporarily removed the pressure exerted by the strength of the yen”according to Takashi Ito, a strategist at Nomura Securities Co., who told Bloomberg.
Yen declines
On the foreign exchange market, “The yen weakened against the US dollar, which should prompt buying across a broad range of stocks in the Japanese market”according to Shutaro Yasuda of the Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Lab. On the stock market, export-related stocks were recovering, particularly in the automotive sector, with Honda (+3.53%), Toyota (+3.36%) and Nissan (+2.39%) around 00:38 GMT. Japanese semiconductor stocks were also climbing after the rise of the American giant Nvidia the day before on Wall Street: Tokyo Electron gained 5.22%, Advantest 6.83%, and Disco Corp 5.02%.
On the foreign exchange market, the dollar was stable at 142.38 yen at 01:10 GMT against 142.36 on Wednesday at 21:00 GMT. The euro was also close to stability, at 156.72 yen against 156.77 the day before, and was trading at 1.1010 dollars instead of 1.1012 on Wednesday. On the oil market, the price of a barrel of American WTI gained 0.27% to 67.49 dollars and that of Brent from the North Sea gained 0.35% to 70.86 dollars at 01:04 GMT.
