{"id":73977,"date":"2026-11-01T21:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T01:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/asian-markets-stabilize-as-japan-signals-currency-vigilance-oil-prices-slump\/73977\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T21:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T01:08:11","slug":"asian-markets-stabilize-as-japan-signals-currency-vigilance-oil-prices-slump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/asian-markets-stabilize-as-japan-signals-currency-vigilance-oil-prices-slump\/73977\/","title":{"rendered":"Asian Markets Stabilize as Japan Signals Currency Vigilance; Oil Prices Slump"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Asian equity markets showed resilience<\/strong> on Monday, with the <strong>KOSPI<\/strong> rising <strong>0.3%<\/strong> and U.S. equity futures rebounding <strong>0.3%<\/strong> following a heavy sell-off on Wall Street last Friday.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Japan&#39;s Finance Minister Katayama<\/strong> emphasized the need to avoid <strong>excessive volatility<\/strong> in currency markets, noting that Prime Minister Takaichi views current <strong>yen weakness<\/strong> as problematic.<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/energy\/crude-oil\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"12\" title=\"Crude oil\">Oil prices<\/a> tumbled $2 per barrel<\/strong>, with <strong>Brent crude falling 1.6% to $111.60<\/strong>, driven by shifting global demand expectations and geopolitical developments.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Manufacturing activity slowed<\/strong> across the region in October, with <strong>Taiwan\u2019s PMI<\/strong> dropping to <strong>54.9<\/strong> and <strong>South Korea\u2019s PMI<\/strong> slipping to <strong>51.3<\/strong>, though both remain in expansionary territory.<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/metal\/gold\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"gold price today\">Gold prices<\/a> advanced to approximately $3,900<\/strong>, supported by safe-haven demand despite expectations of a tighter <strong>U.S. monetary policy<\/strong> path.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Regional Markets and Economic Indicators<\/h2>\n<p>Asian stock markets opened the week with a cautious but recovering tone after the <strong>Nasdaq 100<\/strong> slumped <strong>3.5%<\/strong> and the <strong>Philadelphia Semiconductor Index<\/strong> dropped <strong>7.2%<\/strong> during Friday&#39;s U.S. session. South Korea&#39;s <strong>KOSPI<\/strong> (<a href=\"\/stock\/KOSPI\">KOSPI<\/a>) managed to erase early losses to turn positive, while <strong>U.S. equity futures<\/strong> signaled a potential stabilization with gains of at least <strong>0.3%<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing data for October revealed a cooling trend across major Asian exporters. <strong>Taiwan\u2019s S&amp;P Global Manufacturing PMI<\/strong> fell to <strong>54.9<\/strong> from September&#39;s <strong>56.7<\/strong>, while <strong>South Korea\u2019s PMI<\/strong> dipped to <strong>51.3<\/strong> from <strong>53.9<\/strong>. In contrast, <strong>Japan\u2019s Final Manufacturing PMI<\/strong> remained steady at <strong>53.3<\/strong>, matching the previous flash estimate and indicating consistent growth in the sector.<\/p>\n<h2>Japanese Policy and Currency Stability<\/h2>\n<p>Japanese Finance Minister <strong>Katayama<\/strong> issued several statements aimed at stabilizing the <strong>Yen<\/strong>, asserting that the <strong>Japan-U.S. FX agreement<\/strong> remains active. Katayama noted that while market conditions have improved, authorities remain prepared to respond to <strong>disorderly market movements<\/strong> to ensure stability.<\/p>\n<p>The Finance Minister also highlighted that <strong>Prime Minister Takaichi<\/strong> considers the current undervaluation of the yen to be a significant issue. Meanwhile, Growth Strategy Minister <strong>Kiuchi<\/strong> maintained a cautious stance on the economy, stating there is no change in the view that care is needed before officially declaring an end to <strong>deflation<\/strong> in Japan.<\/p>\n<h2>Commodities and Corporate Developments<\/h2>\n<p>Energy markets faced significant downward pressure as <strong>Brent<\/strong> and <strong>WTI<\/strong> crude prices dropped by <strong>$2 per barrel<\/strong>. The slide comes amidst a broader re-evaluation of global supply-demand balances. Conversely, <strong>Gold<\/strong> prices saw gains, though the <em>Wall Street Journal<\/em> reported that expectations of a more hawkish <strong>Federal Reserve<\/strong> policy have capped the precious metal&#39;s upside potential.<\/p>\n<p>In corporate news, Japanese pharmaceutical firm <strong>Rohto<\/strong> (<a href=\"\/stock\/7727\">7727<\/a>) has joined the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises (<strong>OASES<\/strong>) as its first Japan-based partner. The company reportedly plans to conduct clinical trials in <strong>Hong Kong<\/strong>, marking a strategic expansion into the Chinese healthcare market.<\/p>\n<h2>Global and Regulatory Briefs<\/h2>\n<p>In Australia, the <strong>ACCC<\/strong> issued penalties totaling <strong>A$39,600<\/strong> against <strong>Sharetea Australia<\/strong> for alleged breaches of the franchising code. On the data front, <strong>Australia\u2019s building approvals<\/strong> for September surged <strong>5.1%<\/strong>, significantly beating estimates of <strong>2.0%<\/strong>, despite a <strong>5.3%<\/strong> decline in private sector house approvals.<\/p>\n<p>In geopolitical news, <strong>Russia\u2019s Emergencies Ministry<\/strong> reported a massive <strong>cyberattack<\/strong> on its mobile application. The ministry stated the breach was used to spread &quot;fake information&quot; to the public, highlighting ongoing digital vulnerabilities amid regional tensions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Asian equity markets showed resilience on Monday, with the KOSPI rising 0.3% and U.S. equity futures rebounding 0.3% [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[1947,3590,5127,5136,7503],"class_list":["post-73977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-oil","tag-currency","tag-japan","tag-south-korea","tag-manufacturing-pmi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}