Japan Stock Indexes Halt a 4-Day Rally, Yen Slides Ahead of BoJ Minutes and Tokyo Inflation Data

Akira Ito
25 Sep, 2024
Tokyo

Stock market indexes turned lower near the close of the trading after indexes spent most of the session in the positive territory and halted a 4-day winning streak. 

The Nikkei 225 stock average and the Topix index eased 0.2% and erased gains of as much as 0.3%.

The Japanese yen weakened to 143.44 against the dollar after Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Tuesday that policymakers need time to assess economic developments. 

The comments were widely interpreted as the central bank is in no rush to hike rates, and investors shifted their attention to the release of minutes of policy meetings on Thursday and Tokyo-area inflation data on Friday. 

In other news in Asia, the People's Bank of China lowered its one-year loan prime rate by 30 basis points to 2.0%, just a day after announcing a list of stimulus measures to revive economic growth and lift market sentiment. 

Benchmark indexes in Shanghai and Hong Kong advanced as much as 2.5% before erasing most of the gains by the end of the session. 

Market indexes in India and Australia hovered near record highs, and in South Korea they closed down 1%. 

 

Japan Stock Movers 

The Nikkei 225 stock average decreased 0.2% to 37,870.26 and the broader Topix index fell 0.2% to 2,650.50. 

Financial stocks led the decliners in Tokyo amid a weakness in banks, insurance companies, and financial services providers. 

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial declined 2.5% to ¥1,444.50, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial dropped 2.8% to ¥8,882.0, MS&AD dropped 2.9% to ¥3,298.0, and Nomura Holdings declined 2.5% to ¥773.0. 

General wholesale trading companies, also known as Sogo Shosha, closed higher. 

Marubeni Corp added 1.1% to ¥2,366.0, Itochu fell 0.9% to ¥7,689.0, Mitsui & Company advanced 2.4% to ¥3,172.0, and Mitsubishi Corp added 0.9% to ¥2,987.50. 

Nippon Steel Corp. gained 0.8% to ¥3,236.0, and the steelmaker said it plans to pursue the acquisition of U.S. Steel despite the political pushback ahead of the upcoming presidential election in the U.S.