BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda stunned markets when it was announced there would be no expansion of Tokyo’s stimulus program [Xinhua]
In a surprise decision contrary to expectations by regional experts, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) on Thursday announced it would not expand its stimulus program to revitalize the local economy.
The announcement left most Asian and emerging markets reeling.
Japan’s Nikkei which had shown strong performance in the past week dropped by 3.61 per cent at close, with dozens of companies losing tens of billions of dollars of stock value in the aftermath.
The yen, however, gained three per cent against the dollar.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.72 per cent; India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE) fell 1.66 per cent while the benchmark index Sensex was slashed 1.77 per cent.
In China, the benchmark Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.27 per cent; Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained slightly at 0.12 per cent.
Australia’s ASX rode high on rising oil and commodity prices and closed up 0.68 per cent.
Brent Crude jumped to its highest price so far this year coming in at $47.23 a barrel after an energy report showed that US energy stockpiles had fallen.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate also rose to $45.34.
Meanwhile in Europe, London’s FTSE fell 1.04 per cent at press time while Germany’s DAX dropped 1.12 per cent on the BOJ decision.
In Paris, the CAC 40 dropped 1.35 per cent.
In related news, the US economy grew at its slowest rate in two years during Q1 but unemployment claims are currently at their lowest level in 40 years, a Department of Labor report showed.
The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies
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