Japan Stocks Lower as BOJ Meets

Japanese stocks fell as investors await a Bank of Japan policy decision after the Federal Reserve signaled the pace of U.S. interest-rate increases will be slow even as it prepares to raise borrowing costs this year.

Mitsui & Co. slid 1 percent after Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. cut its rating on the trading company. Nissan Motor Co., which gets almost half its sales from north America, lost 2 percent. Yamaha Corp. jumped 5.4 percent after Mizuho Financial Group Inc. boosted its outlook on the audio-equipment maker. Idemitsu Kosan Co. dropped 3.4 percent after the oil refiner said it shut its distillation unit in Japan following a fire.

The Topix slipped 0.7 percent to 1,623.14 as of 12:44 p.m. in Tokyo, with twice as many shares falling as rose. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 0.8 percent to 20,065.01. The BOJ begins a two-day meeting Thursday in Tokyo, with all 35 economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecasting Governor Haruhiko Kuroda will keep policy on hold.

Bloomberg

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.