SYDNEY, NSW, Australia – Stocks in Asia surged on Thursday despite a further dramatic decline in the Japanese yen.
The yen has been in virtual freefall since the start of the year. On Thursday however, during the Asian trading zone, the Japanese currency weakened to a multi-year low below the crucial 130.00 level.
Japan has been hit with rising prices as commodities, particularly oil have spent much of the year surging.
Despite the plunging currency, Japan’s Nikkei 225 shot up 461.27 points or 1.75 percent, to close Thursday at 26,847.90.
China’s Shanghai Composite gained 17.20 points or 0.58 percent to 2,975.48.
The Australian All Ordinaries climbed 95.40 points or 1.26 percent to 7,642.40.
In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 rose 149.57 points or 1.28 percent to 11,875.96.
South Korea’s Kospi Composite added 28.43 points or 1.08 percent to 2,667.49.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng was still trading at the time of writing, ahead 270 points.
On foreign exchange markets, all eyes were on the yen as it plummeted to 130.70 by the Tokyo close. The euro drifted highway to 1.0547 after hitting an overnight 5-year low of 1.0512. The British pound was weak at 1.2562. The Swiss franc edged down to 0.9691.
The Canadian dollar inched up to 1.2802. The Australian dollar was a tad higher at 0.7156. The New Zealand dollar was well out of favour at 0.6536.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrials ended just 61.75 points or 0.19 percent in front at 33,301.93.
The Nasdaq Composite finished flat, down 1.81 points or 0.01 percent at 12,488.93.
The Standard and Poor’s 500 added 8.76 points or 0.21 percent to 4,183.96.
