The Tokyo Stock Exchange was supported on Tuesday morning, September 3, by the decline of the Japanese currency, the day after the American markets were closed for a public holiday, while the Chinese markets were moving in a scattered order. The leading Nikkei index of the Japanese capital gained 0.50% to 38,893.51 points around 01:07 GMT, and the broader Topix index increased by 0.78% to 2,737.07 points.
“Japanese markets are likely to start the day on a firmer note due to the weak yen”commented analyst Toshiyuki Kanayama of Monex, adding that investors should keep an eye on currency rates. The yen is expected “remain dependent on US employment data” expected Thursday and Friday, according to Charu Chanana, currency strategist at Saxo Capital Markets.
In other news, Japanese wage figures expected on Thursday “could argue in favor of a new rate hike” Bank of Japan (BoJ) policy, but the market is unlikely to expect further tightening as early as September, she added.
L’euro stable
On the stock market, banking stocks such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (+2.16%), Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (+2%) and Mizuho (+1.86%) rose in the wake of an increase in long-term interest rates on the Japanese bond market. Automotive stocks benefited from the weakness of the yen, such as Nissan (+1.44%), Toyota (+0.75%) and Honda (+0.9%).
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was down 0.54 percent at 17,596.68 points in early trading. Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.06 percent at 2,808.54 points and the Shenzhen Composite Index was up 0.64 percent at 1,524.41 points.
The dollar was little changed at 147.03 at 0130 GMT compared with 146.92 yen at 0620 GMT on Monday. The euro was stable at 162.60 yen compared with 162.66 yen the day before, and was trading at 1.1063 dollars compared with 1.1072 dollars on Monday.
On the oil market, the price of a barrel of American WTI gained 0.64% to 74.02 dollars and that of North Sea Brent fell by 0.28% to 77.31 dollars around 01:10 GMT.
