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The Foreign Ministry disclosed on October 30 that approximately 3,600 sets of personal information might have been compromised through unauthorised access to its network. The records included names and email addresses, with around 900 belonging to people outside the ministry. Officials said confidential information was held on a separate network and had not been affected.

The ministry detected the intrusion on July 27, blocked access and invalidated credentials. An external investigation subsequently identified possible exposure. Authorities said there was no evidence that the information had been misused, and pledged stronger authentication and monitoring.

The disclosure followed an October 28 announcement by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry concerning unauthorised access to the website of the Electricity and Gas Market Surveillance Commission. The incident added another government service to the expanding list of targets, although its full consequences remained unclear.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi convened a ministerial cybersecurity meeting on October 26 and ordered urgent countermeasures. She highlighted large-scale information leaks and the danger of stolen records being exploited for further attacks. The government also instructed agencies to improve assistance for affected organisations through the police and the Information-technology Promotion Agency.

Financial markets have faced direct losses from intrusions. Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama identified five foreign-exchange brokers whose customers experienced unauthorised transactions apparently connected to compromised servers operated by GMO Internet. The companies were Goldenway Japan, Oanda Japan, Ava Trade Japan, Gaitame Finest and Dukascopy Japan.

The brokers restricted affected accounts, blocked suspicious overseas orders and reset passwords. Katayama said on October 27 that regulators had received no reports of additional fraudulent transactions. The Financial Services Agency asked trading firms to strengthen surveillance and encourage customers to change credentials.

GMO shut down an affected cloud trading service on October 21 after discovering unauthorised access. The company subsequently acknowledged that material purportedly belonging to customers had been published online, while investigators continued checking its authenticity and the extent of exposure.

The company promised compensation for losses associated with fraudulent trading and offered affected users alternative services. It also rejected an extortion demand. Tokyo police opened an investigation into suspected violations of legislation governing unauthorised computer access.

Separately, IwaiCosmo Securities disclosed that an attack on technology provider Trade Works resulted in unauthorised orders involving seven customer accounts. Transactions were executed through five accounts, while personal information concerning 4,975 people was exposed. The brokerage said the leaked information could not itself be used to access trading accounts.

The National Cybersecurity Office has warned that intrusions are affecting organisations across numerous industries. Its October guidance emphasised protecting web applications, monitoring suppliers and controlling access to sensitive information. Financial regulators separately instructed institutions to examine third-party exposure and incident-response arrangements.

Artificial intelligence is complicating those efforts. Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology warned on October 13 that attackers were using increasingly sophisticated vulnerability discovery techniques, including methods that analyse mobile applications to identify weaknesses in connected servers.

GMO’s information-security division separately said its investigation had identified the use of a Chinese-developed artificial intelligence security tool called Artex in attacks directed predominantly at Japanese targets. That finding does not establish that artificial intelligence was involved in every breach or identify the operators responsible for individual incidents.

Cybersecurity company TrendAI counted 331 unauthorised-access incidents among Japanese organisations during January through September, representing 54.5 per cent of the incidents in its analysis. The classification covers different methods and does not necessarily indicate the same perpetrators or a coordinated campaign.

The growing exposure has also prompted scrutiny of authentication practices and outsourced infrastructure. Regulators have urged organisations to review vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them, strengthen access controls and prepare procedures for containing breaches. Particular attention has been directed towards information stolen from service providers that could subsequently enable attacks against their customers.

The Japan External Trade Organization disclosed on October 27 that its e-Venue business-matching platform had suffered unauthorised access on three dates between September and October. It said up to 133 personal-information records might have been exposed and suspended the service while specialists investigated.

JETRO had separately confirmed exposure of 743 records after attacks on other websites beginning October 14. The organisation notified affected businesses and contacts and established temporary online facilities while reviewing security arrangements.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

The sale of about ¥2.8 trillion of two-year Japanese government bonds attracted demand above its 12-month average, improving markedly from the weak August auction. The result suggested that higher yields are beginning to compensate investors for the risk of additional increases in official interest rates.

The two-year JGB yield was around 1.95% before the auction, close to 2% and its highest region since 1995. Short-dated bonds had gained earlier in the session, tracking an overnight advance in comparable US Treasuries, with the two-year yield edging lower as prices rose.

Demand at the auction was closely watched because two-year debt is particularly sensitive to expectations for Bank of Japan policy. The central bank raised its policy rate to 1.25% in September, the highest level in 31 years, as policymakers confronted persistent inflation pressures, elevated energy costs and the effects of a weaker yen on import prices.

Minutes of the Bank of Japan’s July meeting, released this week, showed policymakers had discussed whether interest rates might need to rise faster if inflation risks intensified. Several board members stressed the importance of anchoring inflation around the central bank’s 2% target, reinforcing market expectations that policy normalisation has further to run.

Those expectations have driven yields sharply higher across Japan’s government bond curve. The benchmark 10-year yield was around 3.09% on Tuesday, near the 30-year high of 3.115% touched last week. Five-year yields have also reached record levels, while yields on super-long bonds remain elevated as investors weigh inflation, fiscal spending and the outlook for government issuance.

Wednesday’s auction nevertheless indicated that the repricing is creating buying opportunities at the shorter end of the curve. Investors receive greater income from newly issued bonds than they did earlier in the year, providing a cushion against the possibility of further price declines if the central bank raises rates again.

The result followed a strong sale of 40-year government bonds on Tuesday. The Ministry of Finance received ¥928 billion of competitive bids for ¥299.7 billion accepted at that auction, producing a bid-to-cover ratio of about 3.1. The highest accepted yield was 4.125%, according to ministry data. Demand for the longest maturity was the strongest in several years.

The two auctions offered evidence that elevated yields can draw buyers back even as Japan’s bond market adjusts to a markedly different interest-rate environment. The Bank of Japan has been reducing the scale of its government bond purchases, leaving private investors to play a larger role in determining prices after years of exceptionally heavy central-bank intervention in the market.

The adjustment has been accompanied by unusually large moves in yields. Japan’s 10-year yield crossed 3% this month for the first time since 1996, while the two-year yield has climbed substantially during 2026 as traders repeatedly brought forward expectations for monetary tightening.

Inflation remains central to those calculations. Higher oil and other commodity costs linked to the Middle East conflict have added pressure to import prices, while the yen’s weakness has increased the local-currency cost of goods purchased overseas. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda has said currency movements can have a significant impact on the economy and prices.

Global bond markets have also been under pressure from persistent inflation concerns, heavy government borrowing and expectations that major central banks may keep interest rates higher for longer. Rising US Treasury yields have at times amplified moves in JGBs, particularly as investors reassess relative returns between Japanese and overseas debt.

Japan’s Finance Ministry had announced the two-year auction for Wednesday as part of its regular issuance programme. The previous two-year sale in August produced substantially weaker demand, with its bid-to-cover ratio falling below the preceding 12-month average as investors positioned for a September Bank of Japan rate increase.

The dollar rose about 0.2 per cent against the yen to around 157.20, with trading conditions thinner because Japanese markets were closed for a three-day holiday. The limited liquidity kept attention on whether authorities in Tokyo might act if volatility intensified.

The yen had come under pressure despite the Bank of Japan raising its policy rate on Friday to 1.25 per cent, the highest level in 31 years. Two policymakers dissented from the decision and the central bank stopped short of delivering the stronger guidance some investors had expected on the pace of further tightening.

The currency fell sharply after the decision before recovering part of its losses when Japanese officials were reported to have conducted rate checks with market participants. Such checks are closely watched because they can signal that authorities are assessing market conditions ahead of possible intervention.

Lee Hardman, senior currency analyst at MUFG, said the rate check should help restrain expectations over how far the yen might be allowed to weaken in the near term. Traders nevertheless continued to test the currency as they weighed the Bank of Japan’s policy stance against a comparatively hawkish Federal Reserve.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency against six major peers, was broadly steady at about 100.23 after gaining more than 1 per cent last week. The advance followed the Federal Reserve’s latest rate increase and indications that additional tightening could be needed if inflation pressures remain persistent.

Market pricing showed investors assigning about a 55 per cent probability to another Federal Reserve rate rise at its October meeting, compared with roughly 43 per cent a week earlier. The shift underscored how expectations for US monetary policy continued to support the dollar despite tightening moves elsewhere.

The European Central Bank has also raised rates this month and signalled that further action may be required to contain inflation pressures. Those moves, combined with the Federal Reserve’s stance, have reinforced expectations that borrowing costs in major economies may remain elevated for longer than investors had anticipated.

Against the euro, the dollar was little changed, with the single currency near $1.149. Sterling was also broadly flat at around $1.339, leaving the yen as the main focus in otherwise subdued foreign-exchange trading.

The yen had strengthened to a seven-month high earlier in September as investors positioned for faster Bank of Japan tightening and signs that Japanese investors were repatriating funds. Some of those gains have since unwound as traders reassessed how aggressively the central bank is prepared to raise rates.

US regulatory positioning data showed speculative net-long yen positions had climbed to about $9.7 billion in the week to September 15, the largest such exposure since July 2025. The build-up left the currency vulnerable to a sharper reversal when the Bank of Japan’s message failed to match the most hawkish market expectations.

Fred Neumann, chief Asia economist at HSBC, said the central bank faced a high bar in convincing investors that its policy stance had become decisively hawkish, particularly after the Federal Reserve delivered a unanimous rate increase.

Thomas Mathews, head of markets for Asia-Pacific at Capital Economics, said traders continued to regard the Federal Reserve as more hawkish than the Bank of Japan. He added that the yen might have to weaken further before intervention again became an immediate consideration.

Japan has already shown its willingness to enter currency markets when moves become disorderly. The yen fell to 163.99 per dollar in July, its weakest level in four decades, before coordinated action by Tokyo and Washington helped lift the currency.

South Korea and Taiwan led the regional gains, reflecting renewed buying in semiconductor companies tied to expanding demand for data centres, memory chips and advanced computing. South Korea’s Kospi rose about 1.4%, while Taiwan’s benchmark gained around 1% and reached a three-month high. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added roughly 0.9%.

Chinese blue-chip shares were also firmer, rising about 0.2%, while Japan’s cash market was closed for the Silver Week holiday. Nikkei futures nevertheless edged 0.2% higher. Trading across parts of the region was thinner than usual because Japanese markets will remain shut through Wednesday.

The strength in Asian technology shares followed continued investor focus on the capital spending required to support generative AI and cloud computing. Samsung Electronics rose sharply in Seoul, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co gained in Taipei, reinforcing the technology-heavy tone across major regional bourses.

US equity futures also pointed higher during Asian trading. S&P 500 futures gained about 0.4% and Nasdaq futures rose 0.6%, while European futures indicated a firmer opening, with EUROSTOXX 50 and German DAX contracts advancing.

Oil prices moved in the opposite direction. Brent crude fell about 1.7% to just above $102 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate dropped close to 2% to around $98.50. Both benchmarks had already weakened at the end of last week.

The decline reflected signs that more crude and other energy cargoes were moving through the Gulf despite continuing disruption linked to the conflict in the region. Data from Kpler showed Saudi Arabian crude exports recovering to just above 4 million barrels per day so far in September after dropping to about 2.4 million barrels per day in August.

Saudi shipments through the Strait of Hormuz have increased after disruption to the East-West pipeline and reduced flows through the Red Sea export hub of Yanbu. JPMorgan analysts estimated that total Middle East oil flows averaged 17.1 million barrels per day over the previous 10 days, suggesting that physical supply had proved more resilient than traders initially feared.

Energy markets were also monitoring the possibility of diplomatic engagement this week, which helped reduce part of the geopolitical risk premium built into crude prices. However, tensions remained high after further attacks involving Saudi targets, leaving traders cautious about assuming that supply risks had disappeared.

Bond markets remained another constraint on risk appetite. The US two-year Treasury yield was around 4.76%, after rising sharply over the previous two weeks. Futures markets were pricing a greater-than-even chance of another Federal Reserve rate increase in October following the central bank’s hawkish guidance last week.

Higher borrowing costs have complicated the outlook for equities even as technology stocks continue to attract capital. Investors are balancing the earnings potential created by AI-related investment against the prospect that restrictive monetary policy could persist as central banks attempt to contain inflation.

The US 10-year Treasury yield was close to 5%, keeping pressure on rate-sensitive assets and supporting the dollar. The currency was little changed around 157 yen, with investors alert to the possibility of intervention by Japan’s authorities during the holiday-thinned session.

The yen had strengthened sharply on Friday after Japanese authorities conducted rate checks in the foreign-exchange market. The euro was broadly steady near $1.148 after losing ground against the dollar over the previous week.

Gold prices were little changed to slightly lower as higher bond yields offset safe-haven demand generated by Middle East tensions. Copper, meanwhile, remained supported by signs of stronger demand from China and constrained inventories.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was broadly flat, lagging the technology-led advances elsewhere in the region. India’s benchmark Sensex traded higher during the session, while Hong Kong shares also advanced as investors continued to favour large technology and internet companies.

The caution comes after the Japanese currency surged to its strongest levels since February, helped by mounting conviction that the central bank will lift its policy rate at its September 17-18 meeting and by speculation that major domestic investors will shift more money out of overseas assets. The dollar fell below 153 yen this week before recovering some ground.

Barclays’ assessment challenges the increasingly bullish market view that the yen has entered a durable appreciation phase. The bank said the latest move has been driven by powerful expectations rather than a fully established change in capital flows or monetary policy, leaving the currency vulnerable if either catalyst disappoints.

Markets have moved close to fully pricing a quarter-point Bank of Japan increase to 1.25 per cent this month. Expectations strengthened after policymakers signalled greater concern over inflation and currency weakness. Board member Kazuyuki Masu said on Thursday that the central bank could be forced to raise rates more rapidly if underlying inflation accelerates, while stressing that decisions would depend on incoming data.

A survey of economists published this week also showed a broad expectation that the Bank of Japan will raise rates to 1.25 per cent in September, with further tightening projected during 2027. That outlook has encouraged investors to unwind positions built around Japan’s comparatively low borrowing costs and has increased demand for the yen.

The second pillar of the rally is the prospect that Japanese pension funds and other large institutions will direct more capital into domestic bonds and equities. Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said in July that the government wanted pension funds, including the Government Pension Investment Fund, to make substantially greater investments in Japanese financial assets.

That statement triggered speculation that the GPIF, one of the world’s largest pension managers, could reduce its foreign exposure. Its portfolio stood at about 320.4 trillion yen at the end of June, with 25.59 per cent in domestic bonds, 24.48 per cent in domestic equities, 24.60 per cent in foreign bonds and 25.33 per cent in foreign equities, official data show.

A major change in those allocations could generate significant yen buying because foreign assets would have to be sold or currency exposure reduced. Rising Japanese government bond yields have strengthened the argument for keeping more capital at home. The 10-year government bond yield has reached levels not seen for decades, increasing the relative attraction of domestic fixed-income holdings.

Fitch Ratings said this week that higher Japanese yields could encourage banks, insurers and other institutional investors to retain more funds domestically. It also expects Bank of Japan policy rates to rise faster than markets had previously assumed, though it has not projected a wholesale withdrawal from overseas markets.

Evidence of repatriation has nevertheless remained mixed. The GPIF’s June-quarter figures showed domestic bond holdings rising in value while their portfolio share remained close to the fund’s 25 per cent strategic target. Foreign assets still accounted for roughly half of the portfolio, underscoring the scale of adjustment that would be required for pension flows to become a sustained source of yen demand.

The currency’s rise has also been reinforced by the unwinding of yen-funded carry trades, in which investors borrow cheaply in Japan to purchase higher-yielding assets elsewhere. Cross-border yen borrowing reached about 360 trillion yen in March, making abrupt changes in exchange-rate expectations capable of producing sizeable market moves.

The yen had fallen to around 164 per dollar in July before authorities in Japan and the United States intervened jointly in the foreign-exchange market. Its subsequent recovery accelerated this month as traders attached greater weight to tighter monetary policy and domestic capital repatriation.

The Japanese currency traded around 155.7 per dollar after a volatile session, having surged sharply earlier in the week as investors increased bets that the Bank of Japan could tighten policy faster than previously anticipated. The move brought the yen close to levels last seen after joint US-Japan currency intervention in July.

US nonfarm payrolls increased by 162,000 in August, well above the 56,000 gain economists had expected, while the unemployment rate held at 4.1 per cent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. June and July payroll figures were also revised higher by a combined 55,000 jobs.

Employment gains were concentrated in food services and drinking places, which added 62,000 jobs, and local government education, which gained 42,000. Construction added 22,000 positions and manufacturing 16,000, while information employment declined. The average private-sector workweek edged up by 0.1 hour to 34.4 hours during August, official data showed.

The dollar initially strengthened after the release as traders raised the probability of a Federal Reserve rate increase at its September 15-16 meeting. Fed funds futures implied roughly a 59 per cent chance of a quarter-point rise after the data, up from about 50 per cent beforehand.

Those gains faded as investors turned attention to next week’s inflation figures, which are expected to play a decisive role in the Fed’s assessment. Producer-price data are due on Thursday, followed by consumer-price figures on Friday. Economists expect annual core consumer inflation to ease to 2.4 per cent from 2.5 per cent in July.

The dollar index, which tracks the US currency against six major peers, was up about 0.1 per cent at 99.10 later in the session. The euro was little changed around $1.162, while sterling held near $1.35 after showing limited reaction to the US employment report.

The yen’s weekly strength has been driven primarily by expectations of further Bank of Japan tightening. Markets were pricing a high probability of a 25-basis-point increase at the central bank’s September 17-18 meeting after policy board member Hajime Takata said officials should act nimbly to counter intensifying inflation pressures rather than adhere to a predictable schedule.

Speculation about a larger or faster sequence of rate increases has also encouraged investors to unwind short-yen positions that had accumulated while Japan maintained substantially lower borrowing costs than other major economies.

Japan’s top currency diplomat, Atsushi Mimura, said on Friday that authorities remained alert to exchange-rate movements, maintaining Tokyo’s warning that it was prepared to respond to excessive volatility. Officials have repeatedly stressed that intervention is aimed at disorderly market moves rather than defending a specific exchange rate.

The yen had approached 155.21 per dollar, the strongest level reached after July’s coordinated intervention. A sustained break beyond that level would put the currency at its strongest point since early May.

The broader policy outlook remains finely balanced. Fed Governor Christopher Waller said on Thursday that he was inclined to support unchanged rates if incoming data confirmed that inflation pressures were cooling, tempering expectations of an imminent increase before the payrolls figures were released.

Wage data offered some support for that argument despite the stronger hiring numbers. Average hourly earnings rose 0.3 per cent in August and were 3.1 per cent higher than a year earlier, the weakest annual increase since June 2021.

Higher Japanese government bond yields have also fuelled speculation that domestic investors could shift some overseas holdings back to Japan. Market participants have focused particularly on insurers and pension funds with large foreign-asset portfolios as relative returns on Japanese debt improve.

J-HRTI, short for Japan Humanoid Robot Training & Implementation, opened its Kanto Data Factory in Narashino on August 26 with 35 humanoid robots across about 1,400 square metres. The centre can expand to 40 machines and is designed to generate, label and test the physical data needed to train robots for practical industrial work.

The consortium says the facility is Japan’s first physical-AI and robot data factory operated by a group composed solely of private companies. Its model is intended to reduce the cost and duplication involved when manufacturers try to build large robot-training systems independently, while allowing participating businesses to share common training data and testing infrastructure.

Operators telecontrol the humanoids to create imitation-learning data from tasks such as gripping, moving and handling objects. Cameras mounted on the robots record movements while motor parameters are also collected. Specialist staff then annotate the footage and motion information so AI systems can distinguish actions, errors and acceptable performance before the robots are tested in environments designed to resemble participating companies’ workplaces.

J-HRTI says members divide the cost of equipment and data generation while contributing real-world tasks from their own operations. Common datasets can be reused across companies, reducing the thousands or tens of thousands of training repetitions that an individual business might otherwise need to undertake from scratch. Sensitive company-specific work can be handled separately in a secure area, where information is not shared with other members.

That approach could widen access to humanoid development beyond the largest manufacturers, although J-HRTI has not published membership fees or a standard deployment price for factories. Claims that the system makes humanoids broadly affordable for mid-sized manufacturers therefore remain difficult to quantify. What is established is that participating companies can spread investment and technical risk rather than financing a dedicated data facility alone.

The operating group includes machinery trader Yamazen, pharmaceutical manufacturer Tsumura, direct-mail and logistics company DMS and Fuyo General Lease, alongside another participant that was not publicly identified in the August 26 announcement. INSOL-HIGH serves as the consortium secretariat and operates the data platform and overall system design.

J-HRTI’s programme is aimed initially at straightforward industrial duties. The group plans to place humanoids into workplaces for tasks such as material transport during the 2026 financial year, which ends in March 2027. It then intends to broaden the range of tasks and improve autonomy as more operational data becomes available.

The consortium is also developing a physical-AI foundation model using data collected at the Chiba site. Several thousand datasets had already been accumulated and annotated by the time full operations began, according to INSOL-HIGH officials. Participating companies are expected to use the model and return additional operating data and feedback, creating a cycle in which the shared training resource is continually updated.

Plans call for the data-factory network to expand to 10 locations nationwide during the 2027 financial year. The Chiba facility is intended to serve as the first “mother” site, with future centres positioned closer to industries that can supply specialised tasks and operational conditions. J-HRTI has said those regional facilities could also support maintenance after robots are deployed.

By the 2028 financial year, the group aims to provide foundation models specialised for sectors including manufacturing and logistics. The timetable remains a target rather than a guaranteed commercial rollout, and performance will depend on whether robots trained in controlled environments can operate safely and reliably in varied workplaces.

The Kospi closed 1.79% lower at 6,788.88, shedding 123.49 points and snapping a three-session advance. Samsung Electronics dropped 3.38% to 257,000 won, while SK hynix fell 4.45% to 1.653 million won as investors locked in gains following an earlier technology rally fuelled by strong results from Nvidia. Foreign and institutional investors sold a combined 2 trillion won of Seoul-listed shares, while retail investors were net buyers.

The retreat highlighted growing caution over valuations in artificial intelligence-linked stocks. Nvidia had jumped nearly 9% in the previous Wall Street session after delivering strong quarterly results and indicating that spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure remained robust. The performance initially lifted technology stocks across the region, but enthusiasm faded in Seoul as attention shifted towards interest rates and the outlook for global bond yields.

Warsh’s first keynote address as Federal Reserve chair at the annual Jackson Hole symposium became the central focus for markets. Investors were looking for guidance on how the central bank would respond to persistent inflation pressures and whether policymakers were moving closer to raising borrowing costs. Interest-rate futures before the speech indicated roughly a one-third probability of an increase at the September meeting, with markets pricing in a move by December.

Bond markets have become particularly sensitive to Federal Reserve communication after longer-term Treasury yields climbed amid concerns that inflation could remain above target. The 30-year US Treasury yield was around 5.2% on Friday after briefly exceeding 5.3%, its highest level since 2007. The 10-year yield stood near 4.67%, while the two-year yield was about 4.23% before Warsh addressed the gathering.

Elsewhere in Asia, market performances were mixed. Japan’s Nikkei advanced around 0.5%, supported by technology shares and inflation data that reinforced expectations of further monetary tightening by the Bank of Japan. Tokyo consumer inflation for August remained close to the central bank’s 2% objective, keeping expectations of another interest-rate increase alive.

Taiwanese shares gained about 1.2%, benefiting more directly from Nvidia’s strong performance because of the island’s extensive semiconductor supply chain. Hong Kong shares moved slightly lower during part of the session, while mainland Chinese equities traded in a narrow range. The CSI 300 slipped about 0.1% at one stage and the Shanghai Composite edged higher, with investors also preparing for purchasing managers’ index data due next week.

Australia’s ASX 200 gained around 0.5%, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index advanced modestly. The Nifty 50 also moved higher as technology shares supported a rebound after two sessions of losses. Regional investors nevertheless avoided large positions as the direction of US monetary policy remained the dominant influence on risk appetite.

Currency markets were similarly restrained. The dollar index hovered around 99.1 and was on course for a weekly gain. The Australian dollar performed strongly after hotter inflation data led traders to reassess the interest-rate outlook, touching a three-month high near $0.72 and extending what was set to become a ninth consecutive weekly advance.

Oil prices provided some relief for equities after falling sharply during the week. Brent crude traded around $89.6-$89.7 a barrel and was heading for a weekly decline of more than 5%, partly reflecting developments involving Iran and Oman over administration of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Lower energy prices eased one source of inflation concern, although geopolitical risks remained embedded in commodity markets.

Gold slipped towards $4,590 an ounce as traders awaited clearer signals on US rates. The broader MSCI Asia-Pacific index outside Japan was little changed, showing how the powerful Nvidia-led technology trade was being offset by uncertainty over monetary policy, elevated chip valuations and higher bond yields.