Asia-Pacific stocks mixed; Bank of Japan holds steady on monetary policy
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The Nikkei 225 in Japan fell 0.98% to close at 28,003.08 while the Topix index slipped 0.38% to finish the trading day at 1,932.19.
Japan’s central bank downgraded its real GDP forecast for 2021 to 3.8% growth, as compared with the 4% growth forecast made in April.
The Bank of Japan also kept its yield curve control target at -0.1% for short-term interest rates and 0% for 10-year Japanese government bond yields. Yield curve control is a policy to stimulate the country’s economy, and entails keeping the 10-year Japanese government bond yield at zero.
Following that announcement, the Japanese yen traded at 109.95 per dollar, against an earlier high of 109.72 against the greenback.
In other markets, South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.28% to close at 3,276.91.
In mainland China, the Shanghai composite dipped 0.71% on the day to 3,539.30 while the Shenzhen component dropped 1.299% to close at 14,972.21. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 0.2%, as of its final hour of trading.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.17% higher at 7,348.10.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.38% lower.
· European stocks muted as investors watch data, earnings and delta variant; Ericsson down 8%
European stocks struggled for direction on Friday as investors monitored economic data, corporate earnings and the spread of the delta Covid-19 variant.
· U.S. stock futures were roughly flat in early premarket trade as Wall Street pored over its first major week of second-quarter corporate earnings.
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