Nikkei Ends Lower After Rise of JPY

February 13, 2018 Share Print 0

The Nikkei stock index ended at a four-month low Tuesday, quickly giving up earlier gains as the yen’s advance against the U.S. dollar hurt export-related issues.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended down 137.94 points, or 0.65 percent, from Friday at 21,244.68, its lowest close since Oct. 13. Japanese financial markets were closed Monday for a national holiday. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange finished 15.19 points, or 0.88 percent, lower at 1,716.78.

Decliners were led by rubber product, transportation equipment and marine transportation issues.

The Nikkei index rose as much as 300 points in the morning after U.S. shares extended their rebound overnight following steep losses last week. In addition, reports over the weekend that Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda will be reappointed led investors to believe that the central bank would continue with monetary easing, analysts said.

The reports “served as a cue for stock buying,” said Shingo Ide, chief equity strategist at the NLI Research Institute.

The 73-year-old Kuroda, expected to remain at the helm until 2023, has set a target of 2 percent inflation and carried out a series of bold monetary easing steps such as increased purchases of government bonds and risky financial assets.

via Mainichi

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.

Bio
Twitter
Google+
Latest Posts

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.