Stocks Up On US Rate Hopes, Yen Holds Gains Amid Intervention Talk

Commentators are speculating over whether Japanese officials intervened in forex markets after the yen surged aganist the dollar AFP

Asian markets mostly rose Friday after a largely negative day on Wall Street despite growing confidence of a US interest rate cut, while the yen saw big swings as speculation swirled that Japan had stepped into forex markets to support the currency.

A smaller-than-expected read on the June consumer price index ramped up bets on the Federal Reserve lowering borrowing costs in September, and possibly again before January.

The news came after the central bank's boss Jerome Powell said decision-makers would not wait until inflation had hit the bank's two percent target before loosening monetary policy, warning that "if you waited that long, you've probably waited too long".

On Thursday, San Francisco Fed chief Mary Daly said: "I do think with the incoming information on inflation, growth and the labour market, some policy adjustments are likely to be warranted."

However, while the figures appeared to give the all-clear for a cut in two months, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq tumbled from record highs, with observers blaming a shift from big-name tech titans such as Amazon and into smaller, largely overlooked stocks.

But most of Asia extended Thursday's rally.

Hong Kong climbed around two percent, while there were also healthy advances in Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Wellington and Manila.

However, Tokyo sank with Seoul and Taipei.

Analysts, meanwhile, said the softer US inflation print provided Japanese authorities the perfect opportunity to step into forex markets to provide support to the yen, which surged against the dollar Thursday.

The Japanese currency spiked from around 161.50 per dollar to as strong as 157.44, fuelling talk that officials had intervened again, having done so in April when the yen hit a 38-year low.

"The pronounced move in the yen appears to be coming on the back of combined impact from US inflation and intervention by Japanese authorities," Charu Chanana, at Saxo Markets, told AFP.

"There seems to be a new playbook for Japanese interventions, coming in along with supportive fundamentals, making the strength in yen somewhat more durable."

And National Australia Bank's Ray Attrill told Friday's "NAB Morning Call" podcast that the "outsized move" makes it "fairly inconceivable that it hasn't had a helping hand".

The Bank of Japan has "been pretty smart here... pushing on an open door rather than the idea that they would just intervene and do anything other than just gift speculators the opportunity to resell the yen at better levels".

While speculation swirled about official involvement, Japan's top currency diplomat Masato Kanda told reporters late Thursday that authorities were "not in a position to comment on whether they intervened in the market", according to public broadcaster NHK.

"Objectively speaking, there have been quite rapid fluctuations, which has affected people's lives."

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 2.0 percent at 41,388.92 (break)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 2.0 percent at 18,184.43

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 2,976.98

Dollar/yen: UP at 159.25 yen from 158.86 yen on Thursday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2905 from $1.2912

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0866 from $1.0870

Euro/pound: UP at 84.20 pence from 84.15 pence

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.2 percent at $82.80 per barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.1 percent at $85.48 per barrel

New York - Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 39,753.75 (close)

New York - S&P 500: DOWN 0.9 percent at 5,584.54 (close)