Tokyo stock exchange stopped trading on Thursday because of some technical issues, while most of the markets in the area closed for holidays.

Japan Exchange group stated that the Tokyo Stock Exchange halted trading from that day due to some system glitch. It is not sure when would the trading start again.

The Japanese government has asked the exchange to find the cause of the technical issue, according to the reports.

Meanwhile, In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.98% to close at 5,872.90, while Singapore’s Straits Times index increased to 1.31%, In India, the Nifty 50 has also progressed over 1%.

The complete MSCI Asia ex-Japan index was 0.54% higher. The markets in Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, and South Korea closed for holidays on Thursday.

In business developments, shares of Singtel, the Singapore telecommunications company, jumped around 1.9% in Thursday afternoon trade after the announcement of the retirement of its CEO.

The quarterly tankan business sentiment survey of the Bank of Japan decreased to minus 27 which was expected to be minus 23, as per the reports.

Izumi Devalier, Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s head of Japan economics claimed that the tankan figures were not completely surprising.

Devalier confirmed that Japan’s economy’s bottom and the recession coupled with the shock from the pandemic was expected in the second quarter. On the other side, the sentiment levels remain extremely low, especially among the manufacturers.

The United States dollar index was at 93.621 in a week that has come down from the levels over 94.2.

After witnessing the levels over 105.6 against the greenback, the Japanese yen traded at 105.48 per dollar. In the afternoon of Asian trading hours, the oil prices were higher. Brent crude futures rose to 0.14% at $42.36 per barrel. The United States crude futures were the over flatline at $40.23 per barrel.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/01/asia-markets-bank-of-japan-tankan-coronavirus-currencies.html