Aussie dollar, emerging currencies dip in Asian trading

Players gradually took to the sidelines to await the Bank of Japan’s decision at its policy-setting meeting on Friday. It is imperative to state that the Bank of Japan governor said that the central bank would be ready to act if the need arose.

Japan’s factory output unexpectedly rebounded in September, data showed Thursday, tempering expectations the central bank would unleash more stimulus after a string of weak data from the world’s number three economy. Last year, the Fed pledged to be “patient” in its approach to raising the benchmark lending rate from zero to 0.25%, where it has been since December 2008.

The reading, which was stronger than market forecasts for a 0.5 percent fall, came after Japan’s industrial production dropped a revised 1.2 percent in August. US stock futures were also slightly lower ahead of the Fed meeting, with futures for the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq trading almost flat.

While the Fed provided an upbeat assessment of the U.S. economy after its latest policy meeting, the news took the wind out of an advance across global markets this month, which had been supported by expectations a rate rise would be delayed. USA interest rates will rise in December, barring a significant change in conditions. South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.4 percent to 2,034.16 while Japan’s Nikkei 225 eked out a 0.2 percent gain after wavering all day to close at 18,935.71.

But the US unit eased to 120.40 yen, from 120.48 yen in New York and well off the 120.71 yen earlier Tuesday in Asia.

The USA dollar yesterday held gains against its major peers and rallied against most emerging currencies, but equities were broadly lower after the US Federal Reserve hinted at a possible December interest rate hike. And even though former Fed chairman Mr. Ben Bernanke has already written his book “The Courage to Act, ‘ and claimed that the Fed ‘worked” by averting a full-system collapse in 2007, if the past two months have shown us anything – we’re not out of the woods yet, as we’re still limping along with emergency policy.

Chinese energy shares listed in Hong Kong fell, with China Shenhua Energy Co. and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. down 2.8% and 1.6%, respectively.

(6758.TO) said it returned to a net profit in its fiscal second quarter after a loss a year earlier.

The euro was at US$1.1040 and 132.98 yen from US$1.1041 and 133.02 yen in USA trade.

In corporate news, shares of Nintendo (7974.TO) fell 9%, after the company said at a strategy briefing that it will delay the introduction of its first mobile application to March 2016 from the end of 2015. Murphy manages $19 billion of fixed-income assets from Boston.