Tokyo (awp/afp) – The Tokyo Stock Exchange was down slightly on Thursday morning, fears related to Ukraine having resurfaced as Westerners continue to doubt the veracity of a partial withdrawal of Russian forces massed at the borders from the country.
The flagship Nikkei index lost 0.39% to 27,352.81 points around 01:35 GMT, after having climbed more than 2% the day before on hopes of easing the Russian-Ukrainian crisis. The broader Topix index yielded 0.47% to 1,937.54 points.
Far from having started a withdrawal of its troops, Moscow would have on the contrary reinforced its troops on the Ukrainian border in recent days, adding “at least 7,000 soldiers” in the area, a senior White House official told reporters under cover of anonymity.
“No significant withdrawal of Russian troops has been observed so far”, also estimated the American president Joe Biden and the German chancellor Olaf Scholz during a telephone conversation on Wednesday, demanding that Russia take “to real de-escalation measures”.
On the side of values
AIRLINES FULL OF HOPE: the shares of the two main Japanese airlines ANA Holdings (+1.53% to 2,709.5 yen) and Japan Airlines (+1.45% to 2,440 yen) climbed pending announcements by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in the evening on easing entry restrictions to Japan from March.
These measures should gradually reopen access to the country for several hundred thousand foreign students and workers. On the other hand, foreign tourists, banned from Japan for almost two years because of the pandemic, should continue to be excluded for the moment.
On the side of currencies and oil
The yen was almost stable against the dollar, at the rate of one dollar for 115.50 yen around 01:40 GMT against 115.52 yen on Wednesday at 21:00 GMT. The yen had already strengthened against the dollar on Wednesday.
The Japanese currency was also barely oscillating against the euro, which was worth 131.40 yen against 131.38 yen the day before.
One euro traded for 1.1376 dollars, against 1.1373 dollars on Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. GMT.
Oil prices fell Thursday morning in Asia, as an Iranian nuclear deal seemed close, which could eventually boost Tehran’s black gold exports.
Around 01:30 GMT, the price of an American barrel of WTI dropped 2.5% to 91.32 dollars and that of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea lost 2.42% to 92.52 dollars.
etb/alc