Investing.com - Asian stocks reversed early session losses to move higher in morning Asian trade Thusday, given a lift from positive overnight returns on Wall Street and a currency intervention by the Bank of Japan.
During early Asian trade, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index edged up 0.02% to 21,990, Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index gained 0.93% to 9,721.50, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.07% to 4,335.
South Korea’s Kospi Index bucked the regional trend, slipping 0.04% to 2,065.27.
Along with the Nikkei, the broader-based Topix Index of all issues listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange moved fractionally higher by 0.01% to 826.65.
On Wall Street, U.S. shares snapped an eight-day losing streak, their longest since October of 2008, prodded higher early in the day Wednesday by a report that non-farm employment in the U.S. had risen more than expected in July.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% to 11,896.44, the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.9% to 2,693.07 and the S&P 500 advanced 0.5% to 1,260.34.
Approaching mid-day trading, the Japanese yen plummeted against the U.S. dollar, with USD/JPY spiking from 76.99 to 78.35 in a matter of minutes, prompting speculation that the Bank of Japan had intervened to weaken the Japanese currency.
Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa later confirmed intervention on the part of the government saying that the central bank "strongly expects that the action taken by the Ministry of Finance in the foreign exchange market will contribute to stable price formation in the market."
Exporters took their cue from the slumping yen with, NEC Corp. climbing 1.78%, Toshiba Corporation adding 0.51% and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. advancing 0.87%.
Rumors of a tie-up between Hitachi Ltd. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. on key infrastructure projects helped to lift their shares in morning trade. Hitachi shares jumped 3.45% and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries surged 4.58%
The outlook for European stocks was optimistic. France’s CAC 40 futures was higher by 0.57% to 3,502.50, the FTSE 100 futures added 0.28% to 5,606, while Germany’s DAX futures rose 0.39% to 6,729.90.
During early Asian trade, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index edged up 0.02% to 21,990, Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index gained 0.93% to 9,721.50, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.07% to 4,335.
South Korea’s Kospi Index bucked the regional trend, slipping 0.04% to 2,065.27.
Along with the Nikkei, the broader-based Topix Index of all issues listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange moved fractionally higher by 0.01% to 826.65.
On Wall Street, U.S. shares snapped an eight-day losing streak, their longest since October of 2008, prodded higher early in the day Wednesday by a report that non-farm employment in the U.S. had risen more than expected in July.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% to 11,896.44, the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.9% to 2,693.07 and the S&P 500 advanced 0.5% to 1,260.34.
Approaching mid-day trading, the Japanese yen plummeted against the U.S. dollar, with USD/JPY spiking from 76.99 to 78.35 in a matter of minutes, prompting speculation that the Bank of Japan had intervened to weaken the Japanese currency.
Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa later confirmed intervention on the part of the government saying that the central bank "strongly expects that the action taken by the Ministry of Finance in the foreign exchange market will contribute to stable price formation in the market."
Exporters took their cue from the slumping yen with, NEC Corp. climbing 1.78%, Toshiba Corporation adding 0.51% and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. advancing 0.87%.
Rumors of a tie-up between Hitachi Ltd. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. on key infrastructure projects helped to lift their shares in morning trade. Hitachi shares jumped 3.45% and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries surged 4.58%
The outlook for European stocks was optimistic. France’s CAC 40 futures was higher by 0.57% to 3,502.50, the FTSE 100 futures added 0.28% to 5,606, while Germany’s DAX futures rose 0.39% to 6,729.90.