investingLive Asia-Pacific FX news wrap: BoJ left short-term policy rate unchanged at 0.5%

• JPY has dropped after the Bank of Japan expected ‘on hold’ decision, Nikkei up
• Bank of Japan leaves rates unchanged, as expected
• Yen is gaining some ground ahead of the Bank of Japan announcement – READ THIS POST
• ECB poised to hold rates for third meeting as inflation hits target
• More on Trump saying he is about to begin testing nuclear bombs again
• Chinese President Xi meeting with US President Trump has begun
• Preview – BoJ walks tightrope as yen drops and political coordination delays hikes
• Toyota says no immediate chip shortage from Nexperia curbs
• PBOC sets USD/ CNY mid-point today at 7.0864 (vs. estimate at 7.1056)
• Trump says instructed department of war to start testing our nuclear weapons
• US Commerce Secretary Lutnick – semiconductor tariffs are not part of US-South Korea deal
• Calpers to vote against Elon Musk’s $1 trillion Tesla pay package
• China’s Premier Li says need to expand domestic demand, deepen supply-side reforms
• Australian export and import prices both fell in Q3
• Samsung profit beats forecasts as AI chip demand drives record semiconductor gains
• New Zealand Business Confidence (October 2025) 58.1% (prior 49.6)
• Foreign inflow into Japan stocks surge ¥1.3 tln as domestic investors stay cautious abroad
• Canada cut rates, but country in a ‘structural productivity crisis’, has been for a decade
• China adds forest the size of Texas since 1990 in world’s biggest reforestation push
• Open AI preparing for IPO that could value company around US$1 trillion
• Hong Kong’s central bank follows the Fed and cuts its base rate – this is an automated cut
• Goldman Sachs says global tech rally shows bubble traits but remains fundamentally sound
• Goldman Sachs sees BoE cutting rates in November: weak UK data, contractionary Budget
• Australia’s Lynas, world’s largest rare earths producer outside China, 66% revenue surge
• US Senate votes to terminate the national emergency Trump is using for Canada tariffs
• Fed Chair wannabe Rieder says Federal Reserve may be on hold until June 2026!
• More from Trump – says South Korea will build nuke subs in Philadelphia
• Chinese President Xi is expected to meet with Trump at 11am South Korea time Thursday
• Trump says South Korea has agreed to pay the US $350bn for lower tariffs
• Trump is scrambling to find funds to pay the US military – Friday pay day looking good
• Michael Saylor sees Bitcoin hitting US$150,000 by end-2025 amid U.S. policy shift
• ICYMI – Japan launches first yen-backed stablecoin as JPYC enters global race
• Gundlach cuts gold, sees 50-50 odds of December Fed rate cut
• investingLive Americas FX news wrap 29 Oct Fed cuts but Powell says Dec is up in the air
• Senate Democrats warn Trump: Don’t trade away national security secrets for China deal
• Microsoft beat earnings and revenue forecasts, powered by continued strength in Azure
• NASDAQ index closes at a new record high. S&P unchanged. Dow modestly lower
• Meta delivered another solid quarter, topping revenue and profit expectations
• Alphabet posted better-than-expected Q3 earnings and revenue

One-liner wrap:

Asia opened to steady markets and one shock headline later.

—

The session kicked off after the US close with earnings from Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft — all solid, as detailed in the posts above.

Heading into Asia, traders had two known unknowns to watch: the Xi/Trump meeting and the Bank of Japan policy decision. And then came one very unexpected development — more on that below.

Trump and Xi are meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit in South Korea, their first face-to-face since 2019. They’re expected to sign off on a framework for a trade deal, part of a wider thaw in US/China relations.

The Bank of Japan left its short-term policy rate unchanged at 0.5% in a 7–2 vote, with Takata and Tamura dissenting in favour of a hike to 0.75%. Both said inflation risks are rising and Japan has largely moved past its deflationary mindset.

The BOJ’s inflation forecasts were steady at 2.7% for FY2025, 1.8% for 2026, and 2.0% for 2027, with growth projected around 0.7%–1.0%. The bank described consumption as firm and exports as flat, warning of trade-policy headwinds but leaving the door open to future tightening. Policymakers noted that real interest rates remain deeply negative even as the price–wage cycle strengthens, and highlighted heightened global and FX uncertainty while reaffirming their 2% inflation target.

The yen firmed briefly ahead of the announcement, amid social-media chatter that former BOJ Governor Kuroda hinted at a rate hike. But after the decision, the JPY reversed all its gains, sliding back toward 152.90, near recent lows.

Elsewhere in FX, the U.S. dollar softened slightly, with EUR, AUD, and GBP all ticking higher but holding within narrow ranges. Oil and gold were little changed. Asian equities traded mixed.

And for the genuine surprise — Trump announced the U.S. will resume nuclear bomb testing, its first since 1992. The move, coming in response to Russia’s claimed test of a “tsunami-making” nuclear weapon, risks reigniting a new superpower arms race.

Asia-Pac
stocks:

• Japan
  (Nikkei 225) +0.62%
• Hong
  Kong (Hang Seng) +0.52% … Hong Kong markets were closed for a holiday
• Shanghai
  Composite +0.06%
• Australia
  (S&P/ASX 200) -0.35%

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.