Asian Stock Market Showed Declines As US Markets Were Closed For Holiday; China’s Central Bank Retains One-year Lending Benchmark Rate at 3.45%

In today’s trading session, Asian markets were lower as US markets were closed for the Juneteenth holiday. 

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index went up by 0.2% to 38,633.02. Risk aversion overshadowed the impact of a weaker Yen, despite the USD/JPY being on a six-day winning streak.

There were no new economic indicators from Japan for investors to evaluate. However, if the USD/JPY approaches 160, it might prompt the Bank of Japan to consider an interest rate hike to strengthen the Japanese Yen. 

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index fell by 0.8% to 18,280.67, while the Hang Seng tech index declined by 1.7% following a 3.7% increase yesterday due to Nvidia’s surge. The Shanghai Composite Index also decreased by 0.4% to 3,005.44. 

The Chinese Yuan hit its lowest level of the year, with the central parity rate set at 7.1192 yuan per US dollar, as the China Foreign Exchange Trade System reported.

The central parity rate is determined based on a weighted average of prices market makers offer before the interbank market opens each business day. 

Meanwhile, China’s central bank maintained its one-year lending benchmark rate at 3.45% and the five-year loan prime rate at 3.95%. The one-year loan prime rate is used as a benchmark for most corporate and household loans, while the five-year rate is primarily used for real estate mortgages. 

Furthermore, markets in China were processing remarks from People’s Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng, who stated at a financial forum in Shanghai that China will maintain accommodative monetary policies to support the economy. 

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 remained relatively unchanged at 7,769.40 while South Korea’s Kospi increased by 0.4% to 2,807.63.