Asian Shares Mixed as Oil Prices Fall and Dollar Softens
August 22 2016 - 10:40PM
Dow Jones News
Shares in Asia were mixed Tuesday, as oil prices fell and the
dollar softened ahead of a key meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve
at Jackson Hole, this week.
The Nikkei Stock Average was trading 0.3% lower on yen strength,
while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.8% higher as demand for
dollar-denominated metals increased as they became cheaper to buy.
The Hang Seng Index was down 0.4% with the Shanghai Composite
nearly flat and the Kospi up 0.2%.
The firmer yen weighed on Japanese exporters by making them less
competitive, with auto makers Honda Motor Co. Ltd. down 2.3% and
Mazda Motor Corp. shedding 2.5% of its value. Elsewhere, energy
shares in Australia were pressured by crude's price declines, with
Oil Search Ltd. trading down 0.4% and Woodside Petroleum Ltd. down
0.8%.
Overall, though, market moves were small and trade thin.
"There's still a sort of 'end of summer' trade of low volumes
and low volatility and I think in general we are seeing a bit of
that continuing into the Asian session," said Angus Nicholson, an
analyst at IG Markets Limited.
Looking ahead, investors will be keeping an eye out for Bank of
Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda's speech at a financial technology
conference later Tuesday .
More broadly, markets are awaiting policy details from the U.S.
Fed this week when its officials bankers gather at Jackson Hole.
Any decisions made will likely impact the dollar and dictate its
strength against regional Asian currencies.
Hiroyuki Kachi contributed to this article.
Write to Ese Erheriene at ese.erheriene@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 22, 2016 22:25 ET (02:25 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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