People walk past an electronic board showing Japan’s Nikkei average and the yen’s exchange rate against the dollar outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan. Picture: REUTERS/TORU HANAI
Several US states including Oklahoma, where President Donald Trump plans a campaign rally on Saturday, reported a surge in new coronavirus infections. “It is a big shock to markets that China, which appears to have successfully quashed the disease, is seeing a second wave. And in the US we see record cases in many states,” said Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.
In the currency market, the safe-haven yen rose about 0.3% to 106.72/$, while the US dollar also firmed against risk-sensitive currencies.