The Nikkei futures tried to cross the 15,000 psychological level yesterday after Finance Minister Taro Aso said in parliament that it was important to be ready to intervene when the currency moves excessively. After he said that, the yen plunged against the dollar and neared a two-month low while equities rallied.
 
Nikkei above 15,000
This morning, the Nikkei futures successfully traded above the 15,000 and was trading at 15,050 as of 7.40am. The futures is looking to ending positive for the fifth consecutive day and has risen 6.9% over the week.
 
In addition to Taro Aso’s statement, 3Q GDP figures showed that Japan’s economy expanded by 1.9% quarter on quarter, exceeding economists’ estimates of a 1.7% growth. According to Reuters, this is the fourth successive quarter of growth and is the best run for the world’s third-largest economy in three years.
 
Tapering to be put on hold?
Elsewhere, Fed Vice-Chairman Janet Yellen’s comments also fuelled the markets yesterday. She mentioned that the Fed has “more work to do” to help the economy and investors speculated that the quantitative easing could support the US for a longer period than expected.
 
She supported her view by saying that the 7.3% unemployment rate in October is too high and the labour markets were performing “far short” of their potential. Also, inflation is under the Fed’s 2% goal and is expected to remain there for some time.
 
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index surged 0.8% dod on her remarks.

Source: Macquarie Research - 15 Nov 2013