"Asian Stocks" Japan's central bank raises interest rates as expected, Nikkei rebounds 505 points for the day, down 2.6% for the week

The Bank of Japan raised interest rates as scheduled by 25 basis points to 0.75%, the highest level in nearly thirty years. The yen fell 0.5% during the Asian session, with the dollar rising against the yen to 156.26. The Nikkei index opened 386 points higher this morning (19th) and expanded its gains, rising by 765 points in the afternoon to a high of 49,766 points, closing the day at 49,507 points, up 505 points or 1%, reversing the previous day's decline. For the week, it fell a total of 1,329 points or 2.6%.

Blue-chip stocks boosted the market, with SoftBank (9984.JP) rising 6.1%, the largest gain among index stocks. Semiconductor equipment stock Tokyo Electron (8035.JP) rose 2.9%. Takeda Pharmaceutical (4502.JP) closed up 2.7%, after announcing on the previous day (18th) that its psoriasis drug trial developed with the help of AI achieved success in two late-stage studies. Panasonic (6752.JP), Tokyo Electric Power (9501.JP), and Sony (6758.JP) fell against the trend by 0.9% to 1.5%.

Automobile stocks were favored, with Mitsubishi Motors (7211.JP), Nissan (7201.JP), and Honda (7267.JP) slightly rising by 0.4% to 1.2%, Toyota (7203.JP) up 1.8%, and Mazda (7261.JP) up 4%.

Heavy industry stocks showed mixed results, with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.JP) and IHI Corp (7013.JP) each rising by 0.6% to 1.9%, while Kawasaki Heavy Industries (7012.JP) fell by 1.3%. Nippon Steel (5401.JP) rose by 1%.

Video game stocks were weak against the trend, with Konami (9766.JP) and Nintendo (7974.JP) closing down by 2% to 3.1%