Tokyo rises slightly, but held back by a strong yen
The Tokyo stock market closed slightly higher, supported by Wall Street, but at the same time weighed down by the strong rise in the yen in a context of speculation on the Bank of Japan’s next move. The Nikkei index rose 0.23% to 39,688.94 points, recording a decline of 0.6% for the entire week. The Topix index gained 0.3% to 2,726.80 points. The Japanese currency is trading at its highest level in a month against the dollar, boosted by market expectations of an imminent end to negative short-term rates adopted by the BoJ in 2016. The BoJ’s Junko Nakagawa estimated on Thursday that the economy will is moving closer to the 2% inflation target, paving the way for rate hikes.
Volatile session for the Chinese squares
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index gained 1.3% to 16,441.68. The Chinese stock markets marked another volatile session and closed positive thanks to the final rally, close to the intraday highs, in the wake of the discussions on the relaunch of the economy within the work of the National People’s Congress, the legislative branch of the Parliament of Beijing: the Shanghai Composite index recorded an increase of 0.61%, to 3,046.02 points, while that of Shenzhen rose by 1.07%, reaching 1,719.71. Meanwhile, positive signs have emerged from the first two months of 2024: China recorded a surplus that rose to 125.16 billion dollars compared to 103.8 billion in the same period in 2023, beating expectations of 103.7 billion. Exports, according to data released yesterday by the Chinese Customs Administration, grew by 7.1% (on forecasts of +1.9%), while imports increased by 3.5% (against +1.5%). %).
Loading…