The Japanese yen recovered Friday although a mixed data set
of household spending, consumer prices and unemployment had sent it lower earlier.
USD/JPY traded at 122.38, down 0.15%, while AUD/USD traded at 0.7213, down 0.18%.
In Japan, household spending for October dropped 2.4%, missing the 0.1% year-on-year gain seen and down 0.7% month-on-month, compared to an expected 1.1% gain.
Closely monitored national core consumer prices dropped the expected 0.1% year-on-year for October, but the unemployment rate fell to 3.1% from an awaited 3.4%.
Market players also hope that Japan’s central bank will extend
stimulus, after minutes showed officials are open to further action if
inflation targets are not reached.
In the stock market, Chinese shares tumbled 4.4% overnight, while markets in the U.S. were closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Chinese authorities’ investigations into two major Chinese brokerages over suspected violations put shares in Shanghai under pressure Friday, pushing the market lower for the week. China’s largest stock broker, Citic Securities Co., said it would cooperate with China’s stock regulator in an investigation of the company for suspected violation of securities rules. Guosen Securities, the country's third-largest broker by assets, reported it is also under investigation for suspected violations, according to a company filing.
Shares of Citic dropped 6.6% in Shanghai and 4.2% in Hong Kong on Friday. Shares of the Hong Kong-listed Guosen dipped 6%.
The Shanghai Composite Index was on track to lose 4% this week, with
most of the losses on Friday, when the benchmark tumbled 4.6%.
Concerns over China’s financial-market investigations also weighed on Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index which lost 1.8% on Friday and is on track to lose around 3% for the week.
Japanese shares lost 0.3% Friday after the Nikkei neared the 20000
level earlier this week.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.16% and South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.08%.
