Japan's Nikkei is fighting its way into positive territory - the yen and Wall Street are weighing on it
Nikkei and Topix remain almost unchanged. An appreciation of the yen suggests Japanese intervention. The Shanghai Stock Exchange was closed for a holiday.
The Japanese stock index Nikkei barely made any gains on Thursday. The sudden appreciation of the yen slowed the performance of export stocks, which normally benefit from a weaker currency. The dollar fell nearly five yen to 153 yen in 40 minutes in late New York trading, fueling suspicions of intervention by Tokyo. “There was an intervention (by Japan),” said Thierry Wizman, global foreign exchange and rates strategist at Macquarie, about the recent yen jump. “They are trying to stop speculators from buying dollars and selling yen.”
The Nikkei index, which includes 225 stocks, was listed in Tokyoalmost unchanged at 38,299.71 points, the broader Topix rose by 0.1 percent to 2732.33 points. The car manufacturer Toyotaand Hondawere able to record slight gains with an increase of 0.3 percent and 0.1 percent respectively. The collapse of the technology rally overseas limited gains for chip maker Tokyo Electronto 0.7 percent. For the chip tester manufacturer Advantestit fell by 0.2 percent. AI-focused start-up investor SoftBank fell 0.3 percent.
The Shanghai stock exchange remained closed. The index of major companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen was also not traded.
