People walk in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan’s Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm Friday, June 21, 2024, in Tokyo. People stand in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan’s Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm Friday, June 21, 2024, in Tokyo. A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan’s Nikkei and New York Dow indexes at a securities firm Friday, June 21, 2024, in Tokyo.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 finished little changed, down less than 0.1% at 38,596.47, after the government reported that the inflation rate ticked higher for the first time in three months, to 2.5% in May, up from 2.2% in April. China’s central bank has sought to staunch weakness in the yuan by setting its value higher than expected. The yuan’s parity rate was set at 7.1196 against the U.S. dollar. It was set at 7.1192 on Thursday. Traders had been expecting it to fall further.