Nikkei rises while other Asian equities stagnate and the yen falls to levels not seen since 1990

Wednesday's movement of the majority of Asian equities was flat to low due to mediocre Wall Street indications and traders staying away in expectation of fresh signals from the Federal Reserve.

The exception was the Japanese markets, where export-focused equities saw significant gains due to the yen's decline. Japan's benchmark indices recovered from their previous decline and were once again approaching all-time highs.

Majority of Asian markets mostly followed Wall Street's overnight losses as sentiment was affected by tech profit-taking, important inflation data, and Fed speakers. However, in Asian trade, U.S. stock index futures saw a little increase.

Gains in Japanese stocks coincided with the yen testing levels not seen in over 34 years. The USDJPY pair reached its highest level since mid-1990 at 151.97, up 0.2%.

This transaction was also significantly influenced by a dovish view for the Bank of Japan, following news that board member Naoki Tamura had stated that the institution must normalise its ultra-loose policies gradually.

The Nikkei is now well within sight of its record highs of over 41,000 points, which were reached earlier in March, thanks to Wednesday's advances. The TOPIX is likewise trading only a hair away from all-time highs.

Data revealing a strong increase in Chinese industrial earnings in the first two months of 2024 did not provide much encouragement for the markets. However, a less satisfactory basis for comparison from the previous year also contributed to the increase.

Markets are now awaiting key PCE price index data and Fed speakers later in the week.

(Sources: investing.com, reuters.com)