Asian shares rose cautiously in opening trades today as markets sobered up to the idea that U.S. rate cuts were most likely some time away, while the yen and Japanese government bonds struggled ahead of a closely watched policy decision by the Bank of Japan. U.S. stock futures jumped after tech giants Alphabet and Microsoft, reported quarterly results that beat Wall Street estimates. Nasdaq futures advanced more than 1%, while S&P 500 futures rose 0.7%. The highlight of the Asia day was on the BOJ\'s rate decision at the conclusion of its two-day monetary policy meeting, as well as Governor Kazuo Ueda\'s news conference thereafter. Ahead of the outcome, the yen languished near a 34-year low and was little changed at 155.54 per dollar. In other major currencies today, Sterling dipped 0.09% to $1.2500 after touching a two-week high yesterday, while the euro edged 0.04% lower to $1.0723. The Indian rupee opened marginally stronger at 83.30/31 against its previous session’s close of 83.32/33 and is expected to trade between 83.30 – 83.40 band today.
Available to subscribers only!
