By Daniel Inman
Japanese stocks were little changed Tuesday before the Bank of
Japan's policy decision, while a decline in Samsung Electronics
weighed on the South Korean market.
After falling sharply against the yen last week, the U.S. dollar
(USDJPY) continued to edge closer to the much-watched Yen100 mark
overnight, though it stabilized early Tuesday -- recently at
Yen98.75 compared with Yen98.74 late Monday in New York.
The dollar was supported after Standard & Poor's upgraded
its ratings outlook on the U.S. to stable from negative on Monday,
citing the country's strong economic performance.
Investors were cautious before the Bank of Japan's policy
meeting, scheduled to conclude on Tuesday. Central-bank Gov.
Haruhiko Kuroda, was expected to maintain the easy monetary policy
launched earlier this year. Any surprises however could fuel the
volatility that has dominated Japanese stocks since the market
started to sell off on May 23.
Japanese stocks were little changed before the meeting, with the
Nikkei Average flat after Monday's 4.9% surge.
Softbank Corp. (9984.TO) rose 0.7% in Tokyo after the company
agreed to raise its offer for Sprint Nextel Corp. (US-S) to $21.6
billion from $20.1 billion previously.
Also in Tokyo, Olympus Corp. (OCPNF) gained 1.3% after the Tokyo
Stock Exchange said it would remove the company's "security on
alert" designation, nearly one and a half years after the warning
was issued due to the company's internal controls.
South Korea's Kospi fell 0.6%, with the index weighed down by
its single largest constituent, Samsung Electronics Co. (SSNLF),
which lost 1.8% due to concerns that its Galaxy S4 smart phone may
not be selling as well as expected.
Australia resumed trading after closing on Monday for a public
holiday, getting its first chance to react to the events that
influenced the previous session -- namely, last week's
forecast-beating nonfarm payrolls data and disappointing Chinese
economic data that came out over the weekend.
The S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.1%.
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