Japanese stocks fell at the close of trading on Wednesday, with the Nikkei recording its lowest level since January 17, amid increasing market expectations regarding adjustments to the degree and pace of monetary easing policy.
In this regard, official data released today by the Bank of Japan showed a rise in the core inflation rate of the central bank to 2.2% in January, while markets had expected core inflation to grow by only 2%, after the core inflation rate of the Bank of Japan recorded a growth of 1.9% in December.
Accordingly, this data strengthened the likelihood that the Bank of Japan will tighten monetary policy and raise interest rates again with increasing inflationary pressures, especially with the upcoming spring wage negotiations, which may heighten upward inflationary risks.
Japanese stocks are awaiting the release of retail sales data in Japan and industrial production for January by the end of this week, along with inflation rate data for the capital Tokyo for February.
At the end of trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Japanese stocks clearly declined, with the Nikkei index falling by about 0.25%, losing 95.27 points to close at 38,142.30 points, while the Topix index dropped by 0.30% to record 2,716.40 points.
