Asian Markets Lower After BOJ

Asian shares slipped lower as the Bank of Japan kept its monetary policy unchanged, a month after it announced a surprise easing.

News of a snap election and the delay of a sales tax increase in Japan had little impact on the markets.

As widely expected, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called an early election, two years ahead of schedule, after the markets closed on Tuesday.

The Nikkei 225 closed 0.3% lower at 17,288.75.

The dollar rose to another seven-year high of 117.40 yen, up from 116.83 yen in New York trade.

Shares in auto parts maker Takata fell 7.4% to a five and a half year low after US regulators called for the recall of its air bags to be expanded to across the whole of the country.

In Greater China, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended the day down 0.66% at 23,373.31 points. While Shanghai’s Composite index closed down 0.22% at 2,450.99 points.

Wednesday marks the third day a landmark scheme linking the Hong Kong and Shanghai markets has been in operation, however, investors on the mainland have remained cautious about using it so far.

The much anticipated link is the latest step in China’s efforts to open up its markets – but analysts say their expectations for its immediate success may have been too high.

Heavy metal
In Australia, shares ended lower, marking three consecutive days of declines.

via BBC

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza