Asian stocks are mixed as yen jumps against the dollar, while oil prices
slip
[August 03, 2026] By
ELAINE KURTENBACH
BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares were mixed Monday after the U.S. and Japan
confirmed they had acted to prop up the value of the Japanese yen
against the U.S. dollar.
Oil prices fell sharply, meanwhile, after U.S. President Donald Trump
said he would order U.S. forces to refrain from attacks against Iran,
claiming a deal to end the fighting in the Middle East was close.
The dollar fell to about as low as 155.20 yen after Trump and Japanese
officials confirmed they had intervened last week to curb the U.S.
currency’s rise to 40-year highs against the yen. Last week it was
trading near 164 yen.
By midafternoon in Tokyo a dollar bought 156.44 Japanese yen.
A weak yen helps to boost the profits of Japanese companies with big
operations overseas, increasing their value in yen terms. It also has
drawn foreign tourists who have enjoyed their strong purchasing power in
Japan.
But a cheap currency also weakens Japan's purchasing power overall,
pushing up costs for the imports of oil and other essential goods.
The dollar's value has surged as it serves as a safe haven for investors
in times of uncertainty, such as during war. Trump lauded the dollar's
strength in comments to reporters, but a weaker dollar can help make
U.S. exports more competitive.
The U.S. Treasury bought yen through the Federal Reserve Bank of New
York, analysts said, to help boost its value. The Japanese side has
spent more than 8 trillion yen (more than $50 billion) on intervention.
It's a strong signal, said Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management.
“Washington is no longer merely giving Tokyo permission to defend the
yen. It is prepared to stand on the same side of the trade,” he said in
a commentary.
The euro fell to $1.1539 from $1.1549.
In share trading, Japan's Nikkei 225 index lost 1.1% to 63,652.26, while
the Kospi in South Korea dropped 5.2% to 6,252.49.
The Kospi soared 17.9% on Friday for its best day in history after
losing even more of its value earlier in the week. The index is
dominated by two tech giants, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, both of
whose shares gained more than 25% on Friday. However, early Monday
Samsung was trading 8.4% lower while SK Hynix had fallen 7.6%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index edged 0.1% higher, to 25,893.57 and the
Shanghai Composite index lost 0.8% to 3,801.86.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.2% to 8,996.90.
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A person walks past an electronic board showing Japan's Nikkei index
and U.S. dollar and Japanese yen exchange rate at a securities firm
in Tokyo Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
 Taiwan's Taiex gained 0.6%, while
the Sensex in India advanced 0.8%.
The lull in fighting in the Middle East helped take oil prices down
more than 5%. Early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude was down 4.9% at
$79.76 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 5%
to $83.50 per barrel.
On Friday, U.S. stocks rose to finish a wildJuly for Wall Street.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.7% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added
0.5%. The Nasdaq composite rallied 1% after briefly losing all of an
early 1.3% jump.
Markets have lurched up and down as oil prices shot higher because
of the war with Iran. Growing worries over whether Big Tech’s
massive investments in artificial-intelligence technology will
translate into profits and whether chipmaker stocks have soared too
high in the euphoria around AI have also buffeted share prices.
Friday’s gains sent the S&P 500 to its first winning week in three.
Amazon led the market with a leap of 15.3% after reporting much
stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its
profit more than tripled from a year earlier, thanks in part to an
acceleration of growth in its cloud computing business.
Analysts said that could be a signal Amazon’s huge AI investments
are paying off, and Amazon increased its forecast for how much it
will spend on investments this year.
The reaction was similar to what Microsoft got a day before, when
its stock soared to its best day in nearly 18 years on signals that
its AI investments may also be yielding higher profits.
___
Associated Press reporters Mayuko Ono and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo
contributed to this report.
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