Bank of Japan keeps interest rates unchanged, encouraging investors. Asia on the rise
European and U.S. stock futures fell as Asian stocks extended a rally that began with the Federal Reserve’s rate cut. Asia is now higher as investors reacted to the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) latest decision to keep interest rates on hold in 0,25%.
Market focus will now turn to a briefing by Kazuo Ueda, the Bank of Japan’s top official, on Friday. Even with rates unchanged, investors are expecting more hikes at upcoming policy meetings as the country’s main inflation gauge accelerated in August for the fourth straight month.
“The need for a rate hike to combat the weaker yen has diminished. The BoJ will now look at wages and prices and make changes to maintain a virtuous cycle of wages and prices,” Kazutaka Maeda, an economist at the Meiji Yasuda Research Institute, said in a note cited by Reuters.
In China, the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut has given the country room to increase monetary and fiscal stimulus to support the economy, the Securities Times said, as cited by Bloomberg.
Futures for the Euro Stoxx 50, which aggregates the 50 largest European companies, point to a fall of 0.3%.
In China, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 0.9% and the Shanghai Composite fell 0.6%. In Japan, the Nikkei jumped 1.18% and the Topix rose 1.2%. In South Korea, the Kospi rose 0.47%.
Source: www.jornaldenegocios.pt
