Japanese shares fell on Friday after the BOJ kept short-term rates at 0.5% but revealed two dissenting votes for a hike and moved to sell its ETF and REIT holdings.
The Nikkei 225 fell 0.58%, or 264.26 points, to end at 45,039.17.
The BOJ will sell about 330 billion yen in ETFs and 5 billion yen in J-REITs annually, around 0.05% of market turnover, and scrap its ETF lending facility.
It said Japan's economy is recovering moderately, though exports and output are flat, housing investment is weak, and U.S. tariffs are squeezing manufacturers. Core CPI stands at 2.5-3.0% on higher food prices, with inflation expectations firming.
Growth is expected to slow on trade tensions before recovering, while inflation edges toward the 2% goal. Dissenters Hajime Takata and Naoki Tamura pushed for a 0.75% rate, citing upside price risks.
In other economic news, Japanese investors boosted overseas bond holdings by 1.48 trillion yen in the week to Sept. 13, finance ministry data showed Friday, as 10.78 trillion yen in purchases outweighed 9.3 trillion yen in sales.
On the corporate front, Japan Real Estate Investment (TYO:8952) is considering a multibillion-yen equity sale to fund office acquisitions, Bloomberg reported, as Tokyo REITs rally on rising rents.
GNI Group (TYO:2160) said its unit Cullgen finished enrollment in an Australian Phase 1 trial for CG001419, a first-in-class oral pain drug targeting safer, non-opioid treatment.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., part of SMFG (TYO:8316), completed a 20% stake buy in India's YES BANK (BOM:532648) and plans to lift its holding to 24.2% with a further 51 billion yen purchase. It also exited its 1.65% stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank.
Source: MT Newswires
Japanese stocks closed slightly lower on Thursday, as trading resumed after a holiday. Investors remained cautious after a senior Japanese currency official emphasized that the government remains vigi...
Japanese stocks have hit record highs again in recent days, driven by political optimism following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's landslide victory and expectations of a more aggressive economic agen...
The Nikkei closed at another record high, continuing its rally after hitting an all time high in the previous session. This increase was driven by market optimism regarding the policy direction of Jap...
Japanese stocks rose sharply in Tokyo after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's victory in Sunday's election fueled expectations of increased government spending. This optimism immediately lifted the Nikk...
Japanese stocks closed the week in the green after a Reuters survey signaled the Japanese economy is likely to return to growth in the fourth quarter of 2025. This optimism is supported by solid corpo...
Oil prices stabilized on Thursday (February 12th), as the market reassigned a risk premium to US-Iran tensions despite US inventory data showing swelling domestic supplies. This movement confirms one thing: geopolitical headlines are still more...
Gold prices weakened slightly on Thursday (February 12th), as more solid US employment data reduced market confidence in an imminent Federal Reserve interest rate cut. The strong employment data prompted market participants to shift expectations of...
The Hang Seng Index reversed its downward trend in Hong Kong on Thursday (February 12th), weakening by around 0.9% to around 27,000 after a strong session earlier. This decline halted the momentum of the short term rally, as investors began to...