TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly declined Thursday as investors awaited a flood of global earnings reports, including updates from U.S. tech companies known as the “Magnificent Seven.”
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slid 2.1% to 37,670.50. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.4% to 2,637.18. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained nearly 0.1% to 17,215.51, while the Shanghai Composite was virtually unchanged at 3,044.41.
Trading was closed in Australia for a national holiday, Anzac Day.
Attention is also turning to the Bank of Japan, whose two-day monetary policy meeting started Thursday.
“For the record, heading into tomorrow’s policy decision, exceptional Japanese yen weakness is the agitated elephant in the room for the BOJ,” Tan Jing Yi of Mizuho Bank said in a commentary.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 155.67 Japanese yen from 155.31 yen. The euro cost $1.0715, up from $1.0697.
US surgeons transplanted pig kidney into patient for the first time, hospital says
Captain of container ship that caused Baltimore bridge collapse is Indian, not Ukrainian
Moon landing attempt: Another US lunar lander blasts off
Santiago Espinal has 3 RBIs, Fernando Cruz pitches out of another jam and Reds beat Phillies 7
How brown rats crawled off ships and conquered North American cities
Coalition's first budget to be unveiled on 30 May
A new Washington state law does not offer cash for reporting hate speech
Kansas' governor vetoed tax cuts again over their costs. Some fellow Democrats backed it
Never mind the overcapacity, have some dim sum! — Radio Free Asia