Stocks across Asia-Pacific rose, following a tumble in oil prices overnight. Bitcoin meanwhile surged past a key level, and the yen’s sharp decline sparked alarm.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 vaulted 308.53 points, or 1.1%, to 28,252.42.
Tech stocks were up, with Sony rising 1.8% and SoftBank Group up 1.9%.
The yen was in focus for investors, after the Bank of Japan’s offer Monday to buy unlimited amounts of 10-year JGBs at 0.25% for the first four days of this week. The yen fell and was last trading at 123.59 per dollar as it hovered near a six-year low.
The yen weakness sparked comments from Japanese officials on Tuesday, with Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki saying Japan will carefully watch foreign exchange moves to avoid “bad yen weakening,” Reuters reported.
One big factor of recent yen weakness had been the Bank of Japan’s yield curve control (YCC) policy which has confined the 10-year Japanese government bond (JGBs) rate to within a 0.25% range, even as core global bond yields have risen. That policy entailed keeping its 10-year government bond yield around or near zero.
Markets were wondering if commitment to that policy was “wavering” amid concerns over rising inflation. But the central bank’s move to buy the JGBs “sent a strong signal that YCC is here to stay for a while yet.”
That pushed the yen to a seven-year low of 125 against the U.S. dollar on Monday, but it later regained some ground to a six-year low of 124,
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index recovered 242.6 points, or 1.1%, to 21,927.63, as casino and tech stocks rose. Among the biggest gainers was JD Health, which soared more than 16%, after it said Monday it would conduct a share buyback of up to three billion Hong Kong dollars over a 24-month period.
Property shares however went against the wider trend, as Sunac plummeted around 18% and Shimao lost over 9%. China’s CSI real estate index lost as much as 2% earlier, but pared some losses to decline 1.4%.
Sunac late Monday said it would halt trading from April 1, days after it said it would delay reporting its 2021 financial results and joining a growing list of Chinese developers who are not able to release earnings on time.
Australia reported retail sales for February, which beat expectations, jumping 1.8% from January to hit $33.1 billion Australian dollars ($24.8 billion U.S. ). That beat forecasts of a 1% gain, according to a Reuters poll.
The Australian dollar was at $0.7508, a touch stronger than levels around $0.74 earlier.
CHINA
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 dipped 14.33 points, or 0.4%, to 4,134.14.
China’s CSI real estate index lost as much as 2% earlier, but pared some losses to decline 1.4%.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index nicked higher 1.91 points, or 0.1%, to 3,433.96
In Korea, the Kospi index regained 11.51 points, or 0.4%, to 2,741.07.
In Taiwan, the Taiex index tacked on 28.65 points, or 0.2%, to 17,548.66.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 gained 9.95 points, or 0.1%, to 11,919.67.
In Australia, the ASX 200 advanced 51.85 points, or 0.7%, to 7,464.26.
