Hong Kong: Asian markets were mixed on Tuesday as the Bank of Japan tweaked its monetary policy in a bid to make its massive easing programme sustainable, with stocks recovering early losses fuelled by a slump among US tech firms.
Tokyo’s key Nikkei index closed marginally higher, edging up 0.04 percent after the BoJ announced it had revised down inflation forecasts while making minor changes to its ultra-loose monetary policy for the first time in nearly two years.
There had been widespread speculation that the central bank would alter the policy, seeking to offset the effects of negative interest rates and its massive bond and asset buying.
But the BoJ made only small adjustments by introducing some flexibility, a move that left investors relieved as it was “largely within market expectations”, Hiroaki Hiwata, strategist at Toyo Securities, told AFP.
The decision sent the yen into fluctuation, with the dollar shooting up against the Japanese currency, trading at 111.31 yen against the dollar against 111.00 yen in New York.
“All eyes are on a news conference by BoJ governor (Haruhiko) Kuroda as the market wants to see how he will refer to the side effects” of the ultra-loose policy, said Masakazu Satou, senior analyst at Gaiame Online.
Singapore was 0.3 percent up and Taipei also edged up 0.2 percent, but Hong Kong closed down 0.5 percent following a negative lead on Wall Street.
US tech equities suffered a significant tumble on Monday, pushing the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index in New York down 1.4 percent — the third straight day it had lost at least one percent.
Silicon Valley shares have been in retreat since Facebook last week signalled slower growth as it spends more on data security in response to criticism over its privacy policies.
Source: Brecorder
