Powell’s Speech in Highlight & Yen Surges Amid Gloomy BoJ – Asia Market Wrap

The Yen surged as BoJ Governor Kazuo Ueda indicated that interest rates would continue to rise. Asian markets recovered from their losses thanks to a lift from Chinese shares.

The Yen climbed up to 0.7% against the Dollar, as government bond futures declined and the Topix rallied. In response to parliamentarians, Ueda stated that the BoJ’s attitude had not altered, as long as inflation and economic statistics remained consistent with its expectations. The comm4ents came after his deputy sought to reassure investors that future hikes would be dependent on market conditions, following the central bank’s increase in July, which triggered a huge selloff in global equities.

Earlier, Japanese inflation figures topped expectations. Consumer prices grew 2.8% in July from a year earlier, matching the previous month and exceeding economists’ expectations of 2.7%.

Equities in Hong Kong, South Korea, and Australia fell, mirroring Thursday’s selloff in US stocks, which saw both the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 indexes fall.