TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average snapped a three-day winning streak on Thursday, as automakers and banking stocks fell after the Federal Reserve’s signal to end its tightening cycle boosted the yen sharply and pushed US Treasury yields lower.
The Nikkei ended 0.73% lower at 32,686.25 after rising as much as 0.6% earlier in the session. The index opened higher tracking overnight Wall Street gains.
The Dow Jones industrial average hit its first record closing high since January 2022 after the Fed flagged its interest rate-hiking policy is at an end. The Japanese yen hit a four-and-half-month high against the dollar, while the US benchmark 10-year bond yield extended declines in Asian hours after hitting its lowest since August overnight.
A stronger yen tends to hurt exporter shares as it decreases the value of overseas profits in yen terms when firms repatriate them to Japan. “Japanese equities fell due to the yen’s strength and falling Treasury yields. The Fed decision was more dovish than expected,” Takehiko Masuzawa, head of trading, Phillip Securities Japan, said. The broader Topix fell 1.43% to 2,321.35.
The auto and autoparts sector lost 3.98%, its biggest daily decline since Oct. 4, to become the worst sector among the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s 33 industry sub-indexes.
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