The Hong Kong and Tokyo stock markets opened sharply higher on Monday, in the wake of a new closing record on Wall Street on Friday after robust figures on American employment, and against a backdrop of continued weakening of the yen for the Japan. The flagship Nikkei index rose 1.54% to 39,230.89 points, recovering significantly after dropping 3% over the entire previous week. The broader Topix index gained 1.62% to 2,737.81 points. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index rose 1.2% to 22,998.83 points around 02:30 GMT. The Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges were closed due to a public holiday.
Tokyo and Hong Kong follow in the footsteps of the good performances of the New York markets on Friday – the Dow Jones ended the session at a new historic level – after the announcement of job creations up sharply and well above expectations in September in UNITED STATES. “This rise in American stock markets should boost investor morale, while the weakening of the yen in the face of a rising dollar should support a wide range of securities from exporting companies”which benefit from a weakened Japanese currency, observed commentators from the financial media Nikkei.
The yen widened its losses on Monday at the start of Asian trade, moving to its lowest levels for a month and a half against the dollar, still handicapped by divergent speeches among American and Japanese central bankers, and by the return of speculative investors. on the foreign exchange market. A trend accentuated by the strength of employment in the United States, which could encourage the American central bank (Fed) not to precipitate further rate cuts. For its part, accommodative positions from the Bank of Japan seem to ward off the prospect of further rate hikes from the institution.
The Japanese currency was trading at 148.87 yen per dollar around 00:00 GMT, after falling below 149 yen. It also fell against the single European currency, to 163.27 yen per euro. The oil market remained feverish, agitated by fears of a possible Israeli response against Iran likely to upset the world supply of crude. After jumping at the end of the week, the price of a barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI), due in November, fell 0.50% to $73.88 on Monday at the start of Asian trading.
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