The Asian equity markets ended mostly in green on Tuesday, with Japanese market closing higher, as a weaker yen lifted exporters’ stocks. The Bank of Japan maintained its upbeat assessment for all nine of the country’s regional economies and stressed that the pain from China’s slowdown was limited for now, suggesting that it saw no immediate need to expand monetary stimulus further. But four regions, including western and central areas home to big Japanese auto and electronics goods exporters, offered a gloomier view on output than three months ago, underscoring the fragile nature of Japan’s recovery. The slowdown in China, which suffered the weakest growth since 2009 in the July-September period, has yet to hit exporters in western Japan that much, pointing to a pickup in shipments of smart-phone parts and car batteries. In a quarterly report issued, the BOJ maintained its view that Japan’s regional economies were recovering, with strength in capital expenditure and consumption offsetting weakness in external demand. Indonesia’s inflation rate is forecast to decelerate this month on the back of a declining trend in staple food prices. Up to the second week of October, Bank Indonesia’s survey has reported deflation. This is one of the supporting factors that Indonesia’s annual inflation rate will range around 4 percent or even better than 4 percent by the end of the year. Juda Agung, executive director of economic and monetary policy at Bank Indonesia, separately estimated a 0.09 percent deflation for October compared to the month before, due to lower staple food prices, namely for poultry and red onions. Hong Kong Unemployment Rate remained unchanged at a seasonally adjusted 3.3% compared to the preceding month.
Asian Indices Last Trade Change in Points Change in % Shanghai Composite 3,425.33 38.63 1.14 Hang Seng 22,989.22 -86.39 -0.37 Jakarta Composite 4,585.82 15.98 0.35 KLSE Composite 1,705.03 -13.17 -0.77 Nikkei 225 18,207.15 75.92 0.42 Straits Times 3,019.03 -5.47 -0.18 KOSPI Composite 2,039.36 9.09 0.45 Taiwan Weighted 8,653.60 22.10 0.26