SHANGHAI: Asian markets were mixed Thursday, pausing for breath after oil prices extended declines. Nikkei 225 was unchanged at 17,862.63, recovering from earlier losses of nearly 0.4 percent. The Japanese benchmark index had been up nearly 10 percent since November 9.
As of 2:46 pm HK/SIN, the yen started to weaken against the dollar, tracking 109.29, but had hovered around 108 levels during most of the Japanese trading session earlier.
The Bank of Japan announced it would buy 10-year Japanese government bonds (JGBs) in order to keep yields around zero percent and cap short-term rates. This was the central bank’s first bond operation since September when it adopted a new policy framework targeting 10-year JGB yields.
The Japanese benchmark 10-year bond bid yield had risen to positive territory to as high as 0.031 percent on Wednesday, spurred by the global bond sell-off. On Thursday, the JGB bid yield was at a session high of 0.029 percent.
Japanese banks were lower after the news. Mitsubishi UFJ was down 1.41 percent to 673.2 yen, Mizuho slid 0.55 percent to 197.9 yen, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group tumbled 1.36 percent to 4,133 yen.
Chinese markets finished mixed, with the Shanghai composite closing up 3.62 points, or 0.11 percent, at 3,208.67, while the Shenzhen composite fell 7.98 points, or 0.37 percent, to 2,116.85.
