Dollar jumps above 157 yen, Nikkei stock index climbs after BOJ rate hike
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The U.S. dollar jumped above 157 yen on Friday after two of the Bank of Japan's nine policy board members voted against an interest r
The U.S. dollar climbed above 157 yen on Friday, following a decision by the Bank of Japan to raise its policy interest rate to 1.25 percent from 1.0 percent. Two members of the Bank's nine policy board, appointed under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's administration, voted against the hike, interpreted by traders as a sign of the government's reluctance to further increase rates.
Mizuho Securities' chief currency strategist, Masafumi Yamamoto, noted that while the opposition was not surprising, the outcome was seen as dovish, as no arguments were made for a larger rate hike. Following the decision, the dollar rose by approximately 1 yen to the 157 yen level, the highest in two weeks. The Nikkei stock index surged over 2 percent in the afternoon, reaching 65,018.95, or 1.38 percent higher than the previous day.
The broader Topix index ended the day with a slight decline of 3.05 points, or 0.07 percent, at 4,091.14. Heavyweight technology shares, which had underperformed recently, saw increased buying that supported the benchmark Nikkei index. Investor sentiment was further bolstered after Nvidia Corp.'s CEO, Jensen Huang, opposed new restrictions on artificial intelligence development amid recent calls for a slowdown in the technology's development.
Written by urgent.news from The Mainichi's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
