Asia markets fluctuated on Wednesday, as the yen nudged higher against the dollar and oil prices retreated. Regional stocks spent much of the morning in positive territory after Wall Street posted its biggest one-day rise in two months.
Japan’s broad Topix stayed flat and the Nikkei 225 was up 0.2 per cent, moving higher as much as 1.5 per cent shortly at the open after Japanese finance minister Taro Aso hinted at the possibility of intervention if necessary in order to prevent the yen from increasing further. The yen reversed course in the middle of the night, strengthening 0.5 per cent to 108.78 per US dollar and recouping a quarter of its declines from the previous two sessions.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.6 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.6 per cent. On the Chinese mainland, the Shanghai Composite and technology-focused Shenzhen Composite were each up 0.6 per cent.
Dollar Under Pressure
The stronger yen put pressure on the U.S. currency, sending the dollar index, a measure of the greenback against a basket of global peers, down 0.2 per cent at 94.148 and possibly ending the winning streak it had enjoyed for the last six days.
Oil prices also dropped, with Brent crude, the international benchmark, down 0.4 per cent at $45.34 a barrel after rallying 4.3 per cent during Tuesday’s session — its biggest one-day gain since April 12--on news that U.S. crude inventories would be lower than expected and that the Canadian wildfires were causing major disruptions in its oil sands regions. West Texas Intermediate was down half of a percentage point at $44.43.