An index of Asian
shares edged higher on Tuesday, bolstered by another record day on Wall
Street, while a resurgent yen helped knock the U.S. dollar index off an
11-year high.
The Australian dollar jumped
after the Reserve Bank of Australia held policy steady, confounding
investors who had bet it would deliver a back-to-back interest rate cut
instead of holding off for a few months to gauge how the economy
digested last month's cut.
"Further easing of policy may be appropriate over the period ahead," the RBA said in a brief post-meeting statement, keeping the door open for easing at forthcoming meetings.
Financial spreadbetters predicted modest gains at the open for European bourses, with Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE seen opening 6 points higher, or 0.1 percent; Germany's DAX .GDAXI 7 to 8 points higher, or 0.1 percent; and France's CAC 40 .FCHI 8 to 9 points higher, or 0.2 percent.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS added about 0.1 percent.
But Japan's Nikkei stock average .N225
erased early gains and ended 0.1 percent lower, after the yen rebounded
from a three-week low against the greenback touched earlier in the
session. Investors took profits from recent gains to 15-year highs, while Sharp Corp (6753.T) dropped on news that it is planning to seek aid from its main lenders as it expects losses to mount this year.
China stocks tumbled as investor excitement over a weekend interest rate cut waned, with a flood of new initial public offerings (IPO) fanning concerns about tighter liquidity. The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC fell more than 2 percent.
On Wall Street on Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI and the S&P 500 .SPX both posted fresh record closing highs, while the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC broke 5,000 for the first time in 15 years.
The Aussie dollar AUD=D4 was last up 0.8 percent at $0.7825 after going as low as $0.7751 earlier in the session as some investors bet that the RBA would cut rates.
The dollar index .DXY climbed as far as 95.516 earlier in the session, its highest since September 2003, but was last down about 0.2 percent on the day at 95.317.
The dollar skidded about 0.4 percent against the yen to 119.69 JPY=, after touching a fresh three-week high of 120.27 earlier on Tuesday.
The yen's ascent came after an adviser to Japan's government reportedly said the yen's correction from its past excessive strength is likely complete.
Etsuro Honda, an economic adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, told the Wall Street Journal in an interview that dollar/yen may be at the "upper limit of comfort zone."
The euro gained about 0.1 percent on the day to $1.1195 EUR=.
"Further easing of policy may be appropriate over the period ahead," the RBA said in a brief post-meeting statement, keeping the door open for easing at forthcoming meetings.
Financial spreadbetters predicted modest gains at the open for European bourses, with Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE seen opening 6 points higher, or 0.1 percent; Germany's DAX .GDAXI 7 to 8 points higher, or 0.1 percent; and France's CAC 40 .FCHI 8 to 9 points higher, or 0.2 percent.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS added about 0.1 percent.
China stocks tumbled as investor excitement over a weekend interest rate cut waned, with a flood of new initial public offerings (IPO) fanning concerns about tighter liquidity. The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC fell more than 2 percent.
On Wall Street on Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI and the S&P 500 .SPX both posted fresh record closing highs, while the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC broke 5,000 for the first time in 15 years.
The Aussie dollar AUD=D4 was last up 0.8 percent at $0.7825 after going as low as $0.7751 earlier in the session as some investors bet that the RBA would cut rates.
The dollar index .DXY climbed as far as 95.516 earlier in the session, its highest since September 2003, but was last down about 0.2 percent on the day at 95.317.
The dollar skidded about 0.4 percent against the yen to 119.69 JPY=, after touching a fresh three-week high of 120.27 earlier on Tuesday.
The yen's ascent came after an adviser to Japan's government reportedly said the yen's correction from its past excessive strength is likely complete.
Etsuro Honda, an economic adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, told the Wall Street Journal in an interview that dollar/yen may be at the "upper limit of comfort zone."
The euro gained about 0.1 percent on the day to $1.1195 EUR=.
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