Asian stocks rise except for Tokyo after central bank refrains from new stimulus

TOKYO – Tokyo shares tumbled Wednesday as disappointment spread that the Japanese central bank didn’t announce additional stimulus. Other Asian bourses rose.

The Nikkei 225, the benchmark for the Tokyo Stock Exchange, finished at 14,299.69, down 2.1 per cent.

The dollar was trading at about 102 yen, down from about 104 yen a month earlier, which if sustained could hurt sales at export reliant companies.

The central bank’s decision Tuesday to refrain from adding to its already lavish monetary stimulus has helped to push the yen higher. There had been hopes for more stimulus in the wake of an increase in Japan’s sales tax to 8 per cent from 5 per cent that could crimp economic recovery.

Other markets rebounded after Wall Street broke a three-day losing streak.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.8 per cent to 22,770.81 and South Korea’s Kospi added 0.3 per cent to 1,998.95. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.0 per cent to 5,463.80. Markets in Southeast Asia also rose.

Seiichi Suzuki, market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Securities Co., said the Nikkei will likely recover in coming weeks ahead of the next Bank of Japan policy meeting, with hopes for more action on monetary policy.

Investors have grown jittery lately about whether technology, Internet and biotech stocks are largely overvalued, which sparked a sell-off in the U.S.

But the losing streak was snapped Tuesday. The S&P 500 rose 6.92 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 1,851.96. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 10.27 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 16,256.14. The Nasdaq composite rose 33.23 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 4,112.99.

Benchmark U.S. crude for May delivery was down 22 cents at $102.35 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained $2.12 to $102.56 on Tuesday because of renewed unrest in eastern Ukraine and a lowered domestic production forecast from the U.S. Energy Department.

In currencies, the euro was unchanged from late Tuesday at $1.3796. The dollar rose to 102.12 yen from 101.90 yen.

___

Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at twitter.com/yurikageyama