Yen hits near 38-year low overnight

Asia-Pacific markets opened lower on Thursday, as the Japanese yen weakened to a near 38-year low late Wednesday, hitting 160.82 against the U.S. dollar, according to FactSet data.

The yen last breached the 160 level against the dollar two months ago, prompting the Japanese government to prop it up in the country’s first currency intervention since 2022.

Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said Thursday that the country was “deeply concerned about FX impact on economy,” Reuters reported.

Japan’s year-on-year retail sales growth for May came in at 3%, higher than the market forecast of 2%, according to a Reuters poll of economists. This compares with a revised 2% growth in April.

China’s industrial profits grew 3.4% year on year from January to May, reaching 2.75 trillion Chinese yuan ($378.41 million), official data showed Thursday. The country’s industrial profit for the first four months of this year had risen by 4.3%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 1.07% while the broad-based Topix lost 0.45% in early trade. South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.55%, while the small-cap Kosdaq was up 0.16% in early trade.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 opened 1.14% lower.

Hong Kong Hang Seng index dropped more than 1%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 was 0.65% lower.