Energy shares in Asia surged Wednesday after oil prices hit a one-month high, leading the region’s markets higher amid speculation that the U.S. and Japan will continue their easy-money policies.
The Nikkei 225 index rolled on, gaining 136.88 points, or 0.8%, to 18,322.98, up for a sixth straight day, at its highest level in almost a month, a sign some investors anticipate action at the Bank of Japan’s next policy meeting, set for Oct. 30.
In Japan, the trading company Mitsubishi, which has resource interests around the world, gained 7.3% and oil explorer Inpex gained 7.2%. The best performance among the 33 Topix subindexes was turned in by the mining sector, up 6.8%.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong leaped 684.14 points, or 3.1%, to 22,515.76
China Shenhua Energy and PetroChina each jumped more than 9% in Hong Kong, where the Hang Seng Index rose 3.1%, to its highest level in over a month.
A gauge of Australian energy shares rose 6.7%, putting its gain this month to 13%. Santos, which has been harder hit than many of its energy peers this year on worries over its debt burden, rallied 12%.
Many commodities are priced in U.S. dollars, so a weaker dollar makes those commodities more affordable to global buyers. Oil prices leapt 5% in U.S. trade overnight on expectations of production cuts in the U.S. and globally, and prices continued to rise on Wednesday.
Japan shares were under pressure earlier in the day after the country’s central bank decided to maintain its monetary policy. Some market participants had expected more monetary stimulus to bolster an economy showing some signs of weakness in recent months.
Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Securities and Barclays, which had warned clients of a possible surprise easing Wednesday, expect the central bank to escalate its easing measures by then.
After the market’s close, Bank of Japan Gov. Kuroda ruled out cutting the 0.1% interest rate on excess reserves, raised by some analysts as an option for additional easing. He didn’t respond to a reporter’s question asking whether the board discussed additional easing at Wednesday’s meeting and repeated his position that monetary policy will be adjusted without hesitation when necessary.
Shares of Samsung Electronics were up 8.7% after the company estimated third-quarter operating profit would be up 80% from a year earlier, to about 7.3 trillion won ($6.28 billion U.S.), on robust sales of chips and displays used in mobile phones and other gadgets. That would be the first year-over-year growth since the third quarter of 2013.
The positive guidance from the world’s biggest smartphone maker by shipments suggests Samsung’s earnings may have bottomed out, ending a nearly two-year decline from tepid sales and deteriorating profit from mobile phones.
Mainland Chinese markets continued with a national holidays, and will remain closed till Thursday.
China reported a decrease in foreign-exchange reserves in September, but the $43.26-billion U.S. decrease from a month earlier was less than half the record $93.9-billion U.S. drop in August, when China’s central bank deployed its massive war chest to stabilize the yuan after its Aug. 11 devaluation.
The onshore Chinese yuan recently traded at 6.3559 to the U.S. dollar, down 2.5% on year.
In other markets
In Korea, the Kospi index added 15.19 points, or 0.8%, to 2,005.84
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index picked up 101.13 points, or 1.2%, to 8,495.23
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index hiked 64.4 points, or 2.2%, to 2,961.81
The NZX 50 eased 18.08 points, or 0.3%, to 5,650.03
The ASX 200 Index moved up 30.47 points, or 0.6%, to 5,197.88
