FILE PHOTO: A man walks past an electric screen displaying the current Japanese Yen exchange rate against the U.S. dollar outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan March 21, 2024. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File photoLONDON : Stocks sagged worldwide on Wednesday as earnings from Tesla, Alphabet as well as European luxury brands disappointed, while the yen surged to a seven-week high ahead of a central bank meeting next week.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 0.4 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei fell 1 per cent. Shares of Google-parent Alphabet slipped in after-hours trade even as the firm beat revenue and profit targets. U.S. GDP data on Thursday and personal consumption expenditure data - the Fed's favoured measure of inflation - on Friday could help investors calibrate their expectations of when interest rates might be cut.
"The U.S. consumer has remained extremely strong ... but you're starting to see a degree of fragility underlying some of the data," said Luke Browne, head of asset allocation for Asia at Manulife Investment Management.The yen spiked to its highest in seven weeks of 154.36 per dollar after surging nearly 1 per cent on Tuesday, having languished near a 38-year low of 161.96 at the start of the month. It was last up 0.56 per cent at 154.73.
The suspected bouts of intervention have led speculators to unwind popular and profitable carry trades, in which traders borrow the yen at low rates to invest in dollar-priced assets for a higher return.
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