The yen strengthened to a six-week high against the euro and a five-week high against the dollar as Asian stocks fell and Japanese machinery orders unexpectedly declined, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. The Nikkei declined for a sixth session and the Hang Seng suffered heavy losses, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index of regional shares dropped 1.4 per cent.
Asian markets (Wed)
03:50 BST
Nikkei down 175.87 (-1.8%) at 9,471.92
Topix down 16.81 (-1.9%) at 892.32
Hang Seng down 217.97 (-1.22%) at 17,644.30
US markets (Tue)
S&P500 down 17.69 (-1.97%) at 881.03
DJIA down 161.27 (-1.94%) at 8163.60
Nasdaq down 41.23 (-2.31%) at 1,746.17
European markets (Tue)
Eurofirst 300 down 6.67 (-0.80%) at 826.36
FTSE100 down 7.91 (-0.19%) at 4,187.00
Currencies
04:00 BST
€/$ 1.3894 (1.3963)
$/¥ 94.60 ( 95.34)
£/$ 1.6084 (1.6255)
Commodities
04:02 BST
Brent Crude (ICE) down $0.53 at $62.70
Light Crude (Nymex) down $0.69 at $62.24
100 Oz Gold (Comex) down $6.40 at $922.7
Copper (Comex) down $0.90 at $220.50
10-year government bond yields (%)
04:04 BST
US 3.45 (3.53)
UK 3.69 (3.67)
Germany 4.92 (3.30)
Japan 1.30 (1.31)
Sources: FT, Bloomberg