TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average climbed to a record high on Thursday after the Bank of Japan refrained from raising interest rates, in a volatile session that saw the benchmark index flip between gains and losses more than 20 times.
The yen weakened and Japanese government bonds rose following the central bank’s announcement, despite traders and economists widely expecting no change to policy this time.
At a news conference immediately after the stock market had closed trading for the day, BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said he had no preset ideas about the timing of the next rate hike. The central bank meets in December, and again in January.
The yen weakened as much as 0.5 percent to an eight-month low of 153.52 per US dollar and as much as 0.7 percent to an all-time low of 178.39 per euro, accelerating declines as Ueda spoke.
The Nikkei climbed as much as 0.6 percent to reach 51,620.79 for the first time, before succumbing to some profit taking. It ended the day up only 0.04 percent, but enough to set a new record closing level of 51,325.61.
The broader Topix gained 0.7 percent to 3,300.79.