Stocks Drop, Yen Gains as Geopolitical Angst Grows: Markets Wrap
- North Korean official says ‘will go to war’ if U.S. provokes
- Markets from Australia to the U.S. closed Friday for holidays
The Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Photographer: Junko Kimura/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Stocks from Tokyo to Moscow dropped, while the yen gained, amid an uptick in political tension after a U.S. bombing in Afghanistan and comments from a North Korean official. Trading was thin with many markets around the world closed Friday for holidays.
Japan’s Topix index capped its longest string of weekly losses in 15 months after the U.S. dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb it’s ever used in combat on Islamic State positions in Afghanistan. The yen erased declines and equity markets open in Asia extended losses as a North Korean official said the country “will go to war” if America chooses to provoke it.