Japan Market Daily | Kabutaro & Friends

On June 10, 2026, the Nikkei 225 turned lower, closing down 1,237 yen at 64,179 yen. Dominated by overnight losses in U.S. technology shares and escalating Middle East tensions, the Tokyo market faced early selling pressure. Speculative positioning ahead of the weekend's major SQ settlement further exacerbated the drop, pushing the benchmark index down by nearly 1,700 yen at one point during the afternoon session, as investors pulled back to hedge against potential upside surprises in the upcoming U.S. Consumer Price Index report. In the FX market, solid speculations regarding further Fed rate hikes spurred dollar buying, keeping the USD/JPY cross well above the 160 threshold, with the New York close around 160.36 yen. Domestically, market attention focused heavily on growing speculations that the Bank of Japan will debate raising its policy rate to around 1 percent at its monetary policy meeting next week.