Nikkei Financial News

Asian shares are mostly higher after Wall Street advanced to claim back some of the ground it gave up in another losing month

Asian stocks inched lower on Wednesday ahead of a keenly-awaited policy decision from the Federal Reserve later in the day, while the yen was stuck near one-year lows against the dollar, keeping markets on edge for possible intervention by Tokyo. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.13% lower, starting November in a sombre mood after clocking three straight months of losses.

yen hovered near a two-week high on Tuesday, boosted by a report that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) could further tweak a key bond yield policy tool when it announces its monetary decision later in the day. The dollar looked set to end the month largely unchanged against a basket of currencies, having lost some steam after a roughly 2.5% gain in September. Yet, the greenback is being underpinned by risks of another rate hike from the Federal Reserve, analysts say, noting a still-resilient U.S.

Bank of Japan's policy decision when it is likely to lift its inflation forecasts and ponder tweaks to its bond yield control. The yen weakened 0.19% to 149.38 per dollar but was not far from the two-week peak of 148.81 it touched on Monday after the Nikkei newspaper reported the BOJ would consider making adjustments to its yield curve control (YCC). The BOJ sets a target of around 0% for the 10-year yield under YCC. Under criticism that its heavy defence of the cap is causing market distortions and an unwelcome yen fall, it raised its de-facto ceiling for the yield to 1.0% from 0.5% in July. On Tuesday, the 10-year JGB yield jumped 6.5 basis points to 0.955%, its highest since May.

shares rallied on Tuesday amid speculation that the central bank will loosen yield curve controls later in the day, offsetting a big drop in tech stocks following declines for U.S. peers and disappointing earnings from Panasonic. The Topix banking index climbed 2.25% as of 10:28 local time (0128 GMT) to lead gains among the Tokyo Stock Exchange's (TSE) 33 industry groups. The Nikkei newspaper reported overnight that the Bank of Japan will consider raising the ceiling for long-term yields from the current 1% at its policy meeting likely ending sometime around the TSE's midday trading recess. The benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond yield jumped to a fresh decade high at 0.955% shortly after the market open, while the yen traded around 149.42 per dollar after reaching a nearly two-week high of 148.81 overnight. «It feels to me personally like there's going to be a policy tweak today» by the BOJ, said Kazuo Kamitani, an equity market strategist at Nomura Securities. However, in the event of a hawkish shift, «I don't expect a big swing in the long-term yield from here, as it's already come a good way, but investors will want to confirm that,» he said. Japan's Topix index gained 0.43%, with an index of value shares such as banks rallying 0.65%, outpacing a 0.21% rise for growth shares, which are predominantly tech names . The Nikkei 225 share average, with its heavy weighting for tech shares, slipped 0.18% to 30,640.89. Chip-testing equipment manufacturer Advantest was the Nikkei's biggest drag, shaving off 44 points with a 4.3% slide.

Oil prices rose in early Asian trade on Tuesday ahead of global central bank meetings and as tensions in the Middle East remained high. Brent crude futures rose 46 cents, or 0.53%, to $87.91 a barrel by 0001 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 33 cents, or 0.4%, to $83.64 a barrel. Oil fell more than 3% on Monday as Israel's attacks on Gaza escalated although fears eased that the Israel-Hamas war would disrupt supply from the region. Israeli troops and tanks attacked Gaza's main northern city from the east and west on Monday, three days after it began ground operations in the Palestinian enclave. Traders were also keeping a close eye on global monetary policy, with rate-setting meetings of major central banks scheduled for this week. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) will be the first with its meeting on Tuesday where it is likely to revise up its inflation forecasts and discuss further tweaks to its bond yield curve control (YCC). Speculation grew on Monday that the BOJ would act after Nikkei, citing sources close to the matter, reported that policymakers may further tweak YCC to allow the 10-year Japanese government bond yield to rise above 1%. The U.S.

US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England will leave interest rates unchanged on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. This week, investors will also keep a close eye on policy announcement from Japan’s central bank and China factory data. The US stocks rallied more than 1% on Monday ahead of jobs data and the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting.

By Elizabeth Howcroft

Investing.com-- Analysts expect the Bank of Japan to potentially further tweak its yield curve control (YCC) policy when it meets on Tuesday after recent data showed an uptick in Japanese inflation, while rising bond yields and a weakened yen also piled on pressure. 

Investing.com-- Most Asian stocks fell on Monday as investors hunkered down for a data-heavy week headlined by the Federal Reserve, while uncertainty before a Bank of Japan meeting weighed heavily on the Nikkei. 

The BSE Sensex was trading 500 points higher, above 63,600. Nifty50 was trading above 19,000, up 155 points at around 9.50 a.m. From the Sensex stocks, Infosys, Tata Steel, M&M, NTPC, SBI and Wipro opened with gains, while only Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement, and HUL opened with cuts. Among individual stocks, Karnataka Bank rose 5% after the board of the bank approved the allotment of Rs 800 crore on a preferential basis. Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea shares traded nearly 3% higher despite its consolidated net loss widened to Rs 8,738 crore in Q2 FY24 from Rs 7,595 crore in Q2 FY23. All major sectoral indices logged gains.

Motilal Oswal Financial Services. Also Read: Buy or sell: Vaishali Parekh recommends three stocks to buy today — October 27 Here are key global market cues for Sensex today: Asian markets rebounded to trade higher on Friday as investors weighed on key economic data in the region. Japan’s Nikkei 225 traded 0.56% higher and the Topix gained 0.6%.

TOKYO (Reuters) — Western Digital Corp (NASDAQ:WDC) and Japan's Kioxia Holdings have broken off talks to create one of the world's biggest chipmakers, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Thursday.

Shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) plunged intra-day Thursday following reports from Nikkei indicating that the company's proposed merger with Kioxia had been scrapped after it couldn't gain approval from large shareholders SK hynix (KS:000660) and Bain Capital.

By Yoshifumi Takemoto

By Tom Westbrook

By Ankur Banerjee

Mitsubishi Motors plans to invest into the new electric vehicle unit of Renault, with the investment expected to be about 20 billion yen ($133.8 million), the Nikkei newspaper reported on Tuesday. Spokespeople for Mitsubishi were not immediately available to comment on the report. A decision by Mitsubishi to invest into the EV unit, named Ampere, would come after its partners Renault and Nissan Motor finalised a restructured alliance in July. Nissan, as part of that move, committed to invest up to 600 million euros ($640.86 million) in the unit, consistent with it being a strategic investor and securing a board seat on the new company.

Investing.com-- Asian stocks extended steep losses on Friday as a rout in global bond markets continued to decimate risk appetite, while traders remained on edge over any more escalation in the Israel-Hamas war. 

By Ankur Banerjee

Nikkei on Wednesday. Aiming to accelerate the development of electric cars globally, Suzuki Motor will export EVs made in India to Japan as early as 2025 and also has plans to sell to Europe under its own brand, the report said. The automaker is also mulling to supply EVs to Toyota Motor for sale on the continent and if it is finalised then those electric vehicles will be sold under the Toyota brand, added the Nikkei report.