Asian stocks edged higher, and the dollar fell as traders turned their attention to a speech by a Japanese central banker scheduled for the afternoon.
Shares in Japan moved up after an earlier decline, helping the MSCI Asia Pacific Index gain around 0.1%, News.Az reports, citing Bloomberg.But liquidity remains thin across the region, with many of the biggest stock markets — including those in Hong Kong, mainland China and South Korea — closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Investors had plenty to digest from US trading hours — but none of it pointed to a clear direction for stocks. A decision by the Federal Reserve to hold rates was widely expected, and earnings from International Business Machines Corp., Meta Platforms Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Tesla Inc. were mixed.
That left investors in the region looking for local events to anchor their trading decisions, with an afternoon speech by Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Ryozo Himino taking center stage. The BOJ hiked rates last week, and traders think the Fed’s signal overnight that it is in no rush to cut could give the central banker room to strike a more hawkish tone.
“Given that markets are not pricing in a very near term hike, the yen will likely richen quickly if Himino sounds surprisingly hawkish on Japan’s economy and inflation,” said Shoki Omori, chief global desk strategist at Mizuho Securities Co. in Tokyo.
The yen gained as much as 0.6% against the dollar as fast money traders lined up bets on the currency, according to an Asia-based FX trader.
That was part of a wider depreciation of the dollar, but not all currencies in Asia benefited. The Indonesian rupiah and the Thai baht both declined against the greenback.
Indonesia’s stock market bucked the regional trend, with its main equity benchmark falling more than 1.7% after trading resumed following a holiday. It was the index’s worst performance in a fortnight.
Shifting bets on AI have defined the week in global markets, following a selloff sparked by news that Chinese AI startup DeepSeek had made much more progress than expected on its own model.
SoftBank Group Corp.’s shares became the latest to rumble from AI-related news, after reports that the company is considering an investment of up to $25 billion in OpenAI, its partner in the Project Stargate joint venture. SoftBank’s shares fell as much as 2.1% before paring some of their losses, but the news helped lift sentiment for tech stocks more broadly.
“The Softbank news provided some relief and the market is reacting positively as there is finally specific amount of money announced that makes the project more feasible,” said Takehiko Masuzawa, head of equity trading at Phillip Securities Japan.
US futures were higher, pointing to a reversal of the small declines in the major indexes on Wednesday.
In commodities, oil steadied as investors waited for clarity on the US administration’s plans for trade policy, after Donald Trump’s pick for commerce secretary said Canada and Mexico may be able to avoid levies.
