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Pedestrians gather on the street in front of a Nikkei stock index board in Tokyo, yesterday. Japanese stocks closed at a four-month high, finishing the day up 108.44 points, or 1.19% |
Asian markets rose yesterday after Japan’s central bank said it would boost an asset-buying scheme to kick-start the economy, which also sent the yen lower against the dollar and euro.
The Bank of Japan said after a two-day policy meeting it would boost an asset-purchasing fund by ¥10tn ($128bn) to ¥80tn while also keeping interest rates between zero and 0.1%.
Tokyo rose to its highest level in more than four months following the BoJ announcement, gaining 1.19%, or 108.44 points, to 9,232.21. It was the best finish for the Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange since May 2.
Sydney also closed at its highest level since May, gaining 0.54%, or 23.7 points, at 4,418.4 while Seoul was 0.15% higher, or 2.92 points, at 2,007.88.
Hong Kong rose 1.16%, or, 239.98 points, to 20,841.91 while Shanghai was up 0.40%, or 8.29 points, to 2,067.83. Mumbai was closed for a public holiday.
The BoJ’s move will see the bank provide more yen liquidity to markets as it purchases government and corporate bonds, and commercial paper.
Pressure had been on BoJ policymakers to follow the Europeans and Americans by announcing new plans to pump cash into the ailing economy.
The European Central Bank (ECB) this month sent equities soaring after saying it would buy unlimited amounts of debt from under-pressure eurozone members to lower their borrowing costs.
That was followed on Thursday by the Fed’s unveiling of a third round of bond-buying, or quantitative easing (QE3), to kickstart jobs growth in the world’s biggest economy.
Following the BoJ announcement, the dollar rose to ¥79.16, from ¥78.78 before, while the euro was at ¥103.50 from ¥102.54 in the morning.
Late in the afternoon the dollar was at ¥78.96 while the euro was at 102.73 against the Japanese currency.
In Tokyo, shares in Japan Airlines rose 3.03% in early trade, almost three years after it became one of Japan’s biggest ever corporate failures, owing $29bn, but they tracked back in the afternoon to close up 1.06%.
The carrier was delisted soon after the bankruptcy but has managed to bounce back after painful restructuring.Oil prices were also lifted. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, was 69 cents higher at $95.98 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for November delivery added 78 cents to $112.81.
Gold was at $1,772.41 at 1000 GMT compared with $1,756.35 on Tuesday.
In other markets: Taipei rose 0.62%, or 47.65 points, to 7,781.91. Hon Hai Precision increased 0.83% to Tw$96.9 while TSMC was 0.35% higher at Tw$86.0.
Wellington fell 0.17%, or 6.58 points, to 3,797.89. Telecom Corp. was down 2.74% at NZ$2.31.
Manila finished down 0.26%, or 14.10 points, to close at 5,317.03. Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. shed 1.18% at 2,830 pesos, and DMCI Holdings Inc. fell 0.08% at 58 pesos.
Singapore closed up 0.25%, or 7.65 points, to 3,075.63. Fraser and Neave fell 1.00% to S$8.88 while Singapore Airlines gained 1.99% to S$10.78.
Kuala Lumpur gained 0.37%, or 6.0 points,to end at 1,646.11. MMC Corp added 3.2% to 2.57 ringgit, Petronas Chemicals rose 1.4% to 6.47 and RHB Capital gained 0.4% to 7.10.
Jakarta closed 0.49%, or 20.82 points, higher at 4,244.71. Coal company Bukit Asam jumped 2.8% to 16,650 rupiah, its rival Bumi Resources rose 4.8% to 880 rupiah, while nickel company Vale Indonesia gained 9.1% to 3,000 rupiah.
Bangkok edged up 0.99% or 12.60 points to 1,285.46. Siam City Cement gained 1.99% to 358.00 baht, while oil company PTTEP added 1.90% to 160.50 baht.