Asian shares wary before Obama speech, dollar soars vs yen
Asian share market sentiment was cautious on Thursday after U.S. President Barack Obama vowed to fight Islamic State militants, while the dollar pushed to fresh six-year highs against the yen.
Chinese inflation data pointing to an economy losing momentum stirred concerns but also some optimism among investors hoping for further stimulus to prop up the world’s second-largest economy.
Obama told Americans in a speech late on Wednesday that he had authorised U.S. air strikes for the first time in Syria and more attacks in Iraq in a broad escalation of a campaign against the Islamic State militant group.
BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Thursday said he told Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the central bank will not hesitate to ease policy further if its 2 percent inflation goal becomes difficult to achieve, though he also told Abe that a positive economic cycle in Japan is firmly in place.
Strong Australian jobs data prompted markets to virtually price out the chance of any more interest rate cuts ahead, and helped the Aussie dollar recover from five-month lows.
Source: Reuters
