Japanese stocks fell on Tuesday, failing to hit a new high for the year, while the Australian dollar picked up after the Reserve Bank of Australia dampened speculation that it’s close to intervening in the currency markets.
The Reserve Bank of Australia Deputy Gov. Phillip Lowe said that the threshold for the central bank intervening in the currency market was “fairly high.”
Talk of possible intervention by RBA Gov. Glenn Stevens last week, along with slowing growth in Chinese manufacturing activity, has weighed on the Aussie in recent sessions.
After bumping up 1.6% over the previous three sessions, the dollar retreated from the recent highs against the yen. That weakening trend for the yen resulted in substantial gains for Japanese stocks, which also suffered a setback on Tuesday, with the Nikkei Average down 0.5%.
Exporters that outperformed the broader market on Monday pulled back on Tuesday due to the stronger currency. Olympus Corp. lost 1.5%, and Tokyo Electron fell 0.9%.
Also in Tokyo, GS Yuasa fell 1.2% after Credit Suisse revised down its rating for the battery maker to underperform from neutral.
Fujifilm Holdings jumped 4.2% higher after a Nikkei report said that the company will create cancer treatments jointly with one of the world’s leading cancer hospitals, MD Anderson Cancer Center in the U.S.
More broadly, stocks across the region moved lower: Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4%, and South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.2%.
Stocks in China were mixed, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index up 0.2%, and the Shanghai Composite flat in the mainland.
Market heavyweight HSBC Holdings PLC was down fractionally, China Life Insurance Co. fell 0.6%, and Ping An Insurance Group Co. shed 0.2%.
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, shares lagged, falling 1.6% following reports that seven of the refiner’s employees have been detained by authorities following a deadly pipeline blast late last week that killed at least 55 people.
Meanwhile, Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd. was up 0.5% ahead of interim financial results due for release after market close.
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