Asian Markets Extended Previous Week Losses, Yuan and Yen In Focus

Arjun Pandit
11 Sep, 2023
Mumbai

Markets in Asia traded mixed and the Japanese yen and China's inflation data dominated market sentiment. 

The Nikkei index in Tokyo traded down and extended losses of the last two sessions after a weakness in tech stocks overwhelmed  strength in financial stocks. 

SoftBank, Screen Holdings, Advantest, Tokyo Electron and Mitsubishi Electric declined between 1% and 3% but Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial advanced between 1% and 2%.  

M2 money stock in Japan was up 2.5% from a year ago to 1,238.6 trillion yen in August, the Bank of Japan said on Monday.

That was steady from the July level following an upward revision from 2.4%. 

The M3 money stock increased at an annual 1.9% rate for the second month in a row at 1,594.7 trillion yen, while the L money stock increased 2.2% on year to 2,121.1 trillion yen. 

The adjusted money stock was up 1.6% from a year ago at 2,114.6 trillion yen.

The yen jumped to a one-week high and traded at 146.23 against the U.S. dollar after the Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said that Japan could end its negative interest rate policy after sustainable inflation rate of 2% is reached. 

China's consumer price inflation rebounded to 0.1% from a year ago in August, the National Bureau of Statistics reported Monday. 

Inflation rebounded from a decline of 0.3% in July, the first negative inflation in over two years. 

But the market weakness persisted in mainland China and Hong Kong index traded at two-week low after Alibaba cloud unit chief Daniel Zhang surprisingly resigned amid leadership shakeup.

Alibaba Group declined 2.8% to HK$88.25 after the Zhang's resignation. 

China's central bank warned currency speculators that it will defend its currency after the yuan dropped to a 16-year low of 7.351 in Friday's trading. 

“We will not hesitate on taking actions when necessary to firmly correct the one-sided and pro-cyclical market moves, to resolutely address the actions which disturb market order, and to unswervingly avoid the overshooting risks in the exchange rate," said the People's Bank of China in a statement released after a meeting with the foreign exchange regulatory body. 

 

Asia Market Indexes 

In Monday's trading, the Nikkei index decreased 0.4% to 32,467.7, the Shanghai SSE Composite index jumped 0.8% to 3,142.78, the Hang Seng index declined 0.6% to 18,092.55 and the KOSPI index increased 0.4% to 2,556.88

Stocks in Mumbai advanced in a broad market advance as investors hunt for bargains ahead of  the earnings season in three weeks.

The Sensex index increased 333.33 points to 66,932.24 and the Nifty index rose 110.45 points to 19,930.40. 

On the Mumbai stock exchange, 311 stocks traded at their 52-week highs and 12 traded at their 52-week lows. 

In August, the Nikkei index fell 0.6%, the SSE Composite index declined 5.2%, the Hang Seng index fell 8.2% and the KOSPI index decreased 4.2%.