Japan Stocks Tread Water Ahead of Powell Speech at Jackson Hole
Japanese stocks ended slightly up after swinging between gains and losses as investors awaited policy signals from key central bankers later in the day.
Topix Index rose 0.6% to 3,100.87 as of market close Tokyo time
Nikkei advanced 0.1% to 42,633.29
Sony Group Corp. contributed the most to the Topix Index gain, increasing 3.1%. Out of 1,679 stocks in the index, 1,047 rose and 570 fell, while 62 were unchanged.
All eyes are on Fed Chair Jerome Powell speech at Jackson hole and any possible hints when the Fed might deliver cuts, said Frederic Neumann, chief Asia economist at HSBC.
Markets are also focused on Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda’s remarks at the Jackson Hole symposium for signals on the central bank’s policy path. Overnight index swaps show traders are pricing in a 57% chance of a rate hike by October after the pace of Japan’s consumer inflation stayed well above the Bank of Japan’s target even as price growth moderated.
Earlier in the day, the Topix dipped and the tech-heavy Nikkei 225 index declined as much as 0.7% after a report that Nvidia had instructed component suppliers to stop production related to the H20 AI chip.
Source: Bloomberg
