AFP, Tokyo :
Tokyo shares opened lower Friday after falls on Wall Street triggered by weak corporate earnings, while a rebounding yen weighed on the Japanese bourse.
The weak opening came as investors bought the Japanese currency after a report that the Bank of Japan chief denied that he would consider using a controversial “helicopter money” policy.
Under such a strategy, a central bank finances fiscal stimulus to fight deflation.
The market took keen notice of the reported comment — which turned out to have been made in mid June — before the Bank of Japan holds an eagerly waited two-day policy board meeting that ends next Friday. The gathering is slated as the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is reportedly mulling a fresh round of stimulus worth at least 20 trillion yen ($189 billion) in another attempt to boost the fragile economy and push consumer prices higher.
The Nikkei-225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 0.94 percent or 158.62 points to 16,651.60 shortly after the opening bell, while the Topix index of all first-section shares dropped 1.03 percent or 13.74 points to 1,325.65. Investors bought the yen after the BBC on Thursday aired the June comments by BoJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda, who reiterated that he saw no need for a helicopter money policy.
“No need and no possibility for helicopter money,” Kuroda told the BBC. The comment boosted the yen, which stood at 105.88 to the dollar, stronger than 106.60 to seen in New York.
The comments were likely to disappoint investors who were expecting Kuroda to adopt the unconventional policy at the upcoming meeting, Jasper Lawler, a London-based analyst at CMC Markets Plc, told Bloomberg News. “After the failure of its current quantitative easing programme to boost inflation, helicopter money is one of the few remaining tools in the Bank of Japan’s arsenal,” Lawler said.
Tokyo shares opened lower Friday after falls on Wall Street triggered by weak corporate earnings, while a rebounding yen weighed on the Japanese bourse.
The weak opening came as investors bought the Japanese currency after a report that the Bank of Japan chief denied that he would consider using a controversial “helicopter money” policy.
Under such a strategy, a central bank finances fiscal stimulus to fight deflation.
The market took keen notice of the reported comment — which turned out to have been made in mid June — before the Bank of Japan holds an eagerly waited two-day policy board meeting that ends next Friday. The gathering is slated as the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is reportedly mulling a fresh round of stimulus worth at least 20 trillion yen ($189 billion) in another attempt to boost the fragile economy and push consumer prices higher.
The Nikkei-225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 0.94 percent or 158.62 points to 16,651.60 shortly after the opening bell, while the Topix index of all first-section shares dropped 1.03 percent or 13.74 points to 1,325.65. Investors bought the yen after the BBC on Thursday aired the June comments by BoJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda, who reiterated that he saw no need for a helicopter money policy.
“No need and no possibility for helicopter money,” Kuroda told the BBC. The comment boosted the yen, which stood at 105.88 to the dollar, stronger than 106.60 to seen in New York.
The comments were likely to disappoint investors who were expecting Kuroda to adopt the unconventional policy at the upcoming meeting, Jasper Lawler, a London-based analyst at CMC Markets Plc, told Bloomberg News. “After the failure of its current quantitative easing programme to boost inflation, helicopter money is one of the few remaining tools in the Bank of Japan’s arsenal,” Lawler said.
