Stock market today: Asian shares retreat after a lackluster day on Wall St, but Tokyo jumps 2%
ABC News
Asian shares have retreated after a lackluster session on Wall Street, though Tokyo broke ranks, gaining more than 2% as a weaker yen lifted stock prices for export manufacturers like Sony and Kyocera
HONG KONG -- Asian shares retreated Wednesday after a lackluster session on Wall Street, though Tokyo broke ranks, gaining more than 2% as a weaker yen lifted stock prices for export manufacturers.
U.S. futures declined while oil prices gained.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 is trading near a 34-year high, gaining 2.1% to 34,465.00, helped by heavy buying of chipmakers and by speculation that the Bank of Japan may not opt to change its ultra-lax monetary policy as soon as thought after wages fell for a 20th straight month in November.
A weakening of the yen against the U.S. dollar also lifted share prices of export manufacturers like computer chip maker Kyocera Corp., which jumped 5.7%. Sony Group Corp. was up 3.8% and robot-maker Fanuc Corp. advanced 2.8%.
The U.S. dollar rose to 145.06 Japanese yen from 144.48 yen. It had dipped earlier on expectations the Bank of Japan might be poised to shift gears after years of keeping its benchmark interest rate at minus 0.1%.
