Traders will likely focus on the European Central Bank (ECB) monetary policy meeting on Thursday- it will be the first monetary policy meeting held by the ECB since the United Kingdom voted on June 23 to leave the European Union.
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TOKYO (AP) Asian shares were higher Thursday as Japan’s benchmark rose on hopes of Japanese government stimulus spending and better-than-expected earnings lifted Wall Street.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) – World shares fell Friday after the European Central Bank’s decision to keep its monetary policy intact dampened expectations of further stimulus to counter the impact of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.
Spot gold prices XAU= fell $6.79 or 0.51 percent, to $1,323.91 an ounce.
The Nikkei rose 1.4 per cent to 16,908.25 in midmorning trade after reaching as high as 16,938.96, the highest since June 1.
France’s CAC 40 was down 0.4 percent at 4,362 while Germany’s DAX was 0.1 percent lower at 10,133. Microsoft Corp. and Morgan Stanley were among the latest US companies to report earnings that surpassed forecasts in a results season that has delivered more positive surprises than negative ones. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 58, or 0.3 percent, to 18,617.
JAPAN: BOJ Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda’s comments ruling out so-called “helicopter money”, or direct cash injections into the economy, were recorded a month ago but aired Thursday by BBC.
The Japanese yen traded at 106.09 against the US dollar, with the pair off an earlier session high of 106.29. REUTERS picAsian stocks dipped early on Friday after weak corporate results halted Wall Street’s record run overnight, while the yen held to large gains made after the Bank of Japan’s governor downplayed the need for “helicopter money” monetary policies.
ANALYST QUOTE: “Global stocks have enjoyed an extended period of gains which have been fuelled by optimism over central banks intervening to quell the financial turmoil”, said Lukman Otunuga, research analyst at FXTM. “But it did not”, said Bernard Aw of IG.
The Asia Pacific gauge is trading near its highest level of 2016 after more than $4.5 trillion was added to the value of global shares in the past three weeks as investors bet central banks and governments will do more to stimulate growth.
Nintendo Co. added 3.6 percent on Thursday after falling the most in five years yesterday.
At the lunch break, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 1.05 percent, or 175.49 points, to 16,857.38, while the broader Topix index of all first-section shares had gained 0.78 percent, or 10.34 points, to 1,341.09.
Futures on the S&P 500 Index were little changed.
KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 7 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,165 as of 1:38 p.m. Southeast Asian markets were down.
OIL: Benchmark U.S. oil futures fell 5 cents to $45.40 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose 18 cents to $47.35 a barrel.
Among the region’s other currencies, the Malaysian ringgit fell against the dollar for a second straight day, and was recently down 0.6%, while other currencies held steady.
On Thursday, the dollar rose to 107.23 yen from 106.87 in NY, with the weakening yen a plus for Japanese exporters’ profitability.
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The euro was flat on the day at $1.1018 EUR= after notching a near one-month low of $1.0980 overnight.
