Latest news with #JunkoFujita
Mint
27-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Nikkei reverses course to end higher as yields fall sharply, yen weakens
(Recasts first paragraph, adds comments, updates with closing prices) TOKYO, May 27 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average reversed early declines to end higher on Tuesday, as a weaker yen and falling yields on super long-dated bonds lifted sentiment. The Nikkei rose 0.51% to close at 37,724.11, after falling as much as 0.3% earlier in the session. The broader Topix rose 0.64% to 2,769.49. Yields on Japanese government bonds (JGBs) fell sharply, extending declines, after Reuters reported that Japan would consider trimming the issuance of super-long bonds in the wake of recent sharp rises in yields for the notes. "The market's attention is more on JGB yields now, rather than stocks, and the decline in yields on super-long bonds supports sentiment for equity investors," said Shuutarou Yasuda, a market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory. The yields on super-long bonds surged to record levels last week, after a weak auction of the 20-year bonds and on concerns about political jockeying over a government stimulus program. The yen also weakened against the dollar - which typically tends to boost shares of local firms, as it increases the value of overseas profits in yen terms when firms repatriate them to Japan. Technology investor SoftBank Group rose 2.23%, becoming the biggest boost for the Nikkei. Shares of staffing agency Recruit Holdings rose 1.88%, while game-maker Sony also advanced 1.84%. Chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron fell 0.69% to drag the Nikkei the most. Drugstore operator Tsuruha Holdings trimmed its early losses to rise 0.53% after shareholders approved its merger with Welcia Holdings, despite opposition from U.K.-based fund Orbis Investment. On the Tokyo Stock Exchange's prime market, 68% of the over 1,600 listed stocks advanced, 26% declined, and 4% remained unchanged. (Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Global rout in bank shares intensifies as recession fears mount
By Junko Fujita, Ankur Banerjee and Anton Bridge TOKYO (Reuters) - A global selloff in bank shares turned ominous with a collapse in Japanese bank stocks on Friday to their worst weekly loss in at least 40 years while U.S. and European lenders continued to decline, as fear of a global recession swept markets. Banks, as barometers of growth, have been hammered worldwide as the U.S. breaks with the free trade order that it built up over decades and President Donald Trump puts up the highest tariff walls in a century. This week's falls of 20% or more in shares of Japan's three megabanks are the biggest since the financial crisis of 2008 - and in some cases bigger - in one of the markets' most unsettling signals so far about the consequences of Trump's trade war. Shares in European lenders extended losses, too. A basket of the region's banks had dropped 6.5% in early trade to its lowest since early February, after falling 5.5% on Thursday. That followed massive drops in U.S. banks overnight, when Citigroup fell more than 12% and Bank of America sank 11%. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo fell more than 9% each. "The world has changed, and in few economies do these changes reverberate as strongly as in Japan," said Fred Neumann, chief Asia economist at HSBC in Hong Kong. Flight to the safety of bonds lifted 10-year Japanese government bond futures almost to the threshold for a trading halt, while yields, which fall when prices rise, were set for a drop of 35 basis points on the week - the largest fall since 1993. [JP/] Investors, who had been expecting at least one interest rate increase by the Bank of Japan this year, all but removed any chance of a hike at all, triggering a spectacular unwinding of the market's crowded bet on higher rates and bigger lending margins. With a recent decline in U.S. 10-year yields and a paring of rate-cut expectations, the market is worried that it will be harder for Japan to raise rates now, said Sean Taylor, chief investment officer at Matthews Asia. "So Japanese banks are factoring in no rate hike." Shares in Japan's biggest bank by market value, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, fell 8.5% on Friday for a weekly loss of 20% - the largest since 2003. Mizuho Financial Group fell 11% on Friday and more than 22% for the week, the largest drop since 2008, while shares in Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group slid 8% on the day and more than 20% for the week. The three banks' combined loss in market value this week exceeded 10 trillion yen ($69 billion). "It's a wholesale move out of banking stocks and I think this will continue," said Amir Anvarzadeh, Japan equity strategist at Asymmetric Investors. U.S. banking shares had also been riding high as recently as a few weeks ago on projections of a bright outlook for 2025, based on expectations of M&A deregulation and lower corporate taxes. Japan's TOPIX banks index, which touched a 19-year high only two weeks ago, is down 24% from that high. Its weekly drop of 20.2% is the biggest in LSEG data stretching back to 1983. The benchmark Nikkei share average ended Friday 2.75% lower, with insurers, chip makers and shipping lines also among the heaviest losers. The average's decline for the week, at 9%, was the worst since the pandemic-driven meltdown of March 2020. Benchmark 10-year Japanese government yields had tumbled nearly 20 basis points by the afternoon, for a drop of more than 38 bps on the week so far, the largest fall since 1990. "It is quite incredible," said Ales Koutny, head of international rates at Vanguard. "We are putting this down to hedge funds running for the exits." ($1 = 146.0500 yen)
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Japanese stocks tumble as banks slump on tariff jitters
By Junko Fujita and Ankur Banerjee TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese stocks sank on Friday to their lowest levels since last August, and were set for their sharpest weekly drop in five years, as fears of a global recession in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs gripped markets. As of 0420 GMT, the Nikkei index was down 3.6% at 33,474.56, and on course for a weekly decline of nearly 10%, if losses hold. The broader Topix fell 4.6% to 2,448.94, poised for a weekly drop of 11%. Both indexes were set for their steepest weekly losses since March 2020. The brutal selloff came after Trump announced on Wednesday Washington's steepest trade barriers in more than 100 years, sending investors scrambling for safe-haven assets, including the yen, which added further pressure on Japanese stocks. The rout was led by banking stocks as the spectre of tariffs and their potential impact on economic growth stoked speculation that the Bank of Japan may need to delay rising interest rates. Japanese bank shares recently gained popularity among investors betting on rising BOJ interest rates. All but three of the Tokyo Stock Exchange's 33 industry sub-indexes dropped on Friday, with the banking index down 11%, making it the worst performer and triggering a circuit breaker. The banking index was on track for a decline of more than 20% this week, its worst weekly performance on record. Shares of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, one of Japan's biggest banking groups, fell 11.6% and were set for their biggest one-day drop since August 5. "Banks in Japan are caught in the crossfire of waning rate-hike expectations coinciding with the market coming to terms with increased chances of a global recession," said Jon Withaar, who manages an Asia special situations hedge fund at Pictet Asset Management. BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said that the central bank will scrutinise the impact of U.S. tariffs on the country's economy when setting monetary policy, warning the higher levies will likely weigh on global and domestic economic growth. Wall Street benchmarks slumped on Thursday, ending with the largest single-day percentage losses in years. S&P 500 companies lost a combined $2.4 trillion in stock market value. [.N] Takamasa Ikeda, senior portfolio manager at GCI Asset Management, said the Nikkei has "double headwind – the tariff and the stronger yen" and could fall to as low as 32,000 this month. Sign in to access your portfolio
