Asia stocks rose on Thursday, following an overnight Wall Street ally while the safe-haven Japanese yen was held steady as global markets regained composure after the Brexit jolt.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1.5 percent, breaking away from a one-month low on Friday when it plunged more than 3 percent. The index has dropped about 0.8 percent in the April-June quarter. Japan's Nikkei climbed 0.6 percent.
Currencies
Together with a slight rebound in the euro and pound, it was the emerging market currencies that managed to delete much of the losses resulting from Brexit.
South Korea’s won led a third day of gains, coming in only 0.1 percent away from recouping all its losses since the end of trading on June 23 when Britain went to the polls and appreciating 0.7 percent to 1,151.77 per dollar at the close in Seoul. The rise in the won is attributed to the government’s infusion of 20 trillion won ($17 billion) in stimulus.
Malaysia’s ringgit strengthened 0.2 percent to 4.0330 as of 2:07 p.m. in Kuala Lumpur, gaining 1.6 percent in three days. The Brazilian real, Colombia’s peso and the rand led the gains in June, while Indonesia’s rupiah was the best performer in emerging Asia ahead of the won.
China’s yuan, however, headed for its worst quarterly performance on record on speculation policy makers are seeking to guide the currency lower as growth slows while other emerging markets headed lower. The South African rand dropped 0.7 percent, Mexico’s peso was down 0.5 percent, and Turkey’s lira was 0.3 percent weaker.