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Published : 02 May 2026, 10:26 AM
Global shares steadied on Friday, with US tech stocks rallying anew and investors remaining focused on currency markets after the yen briefly jumped against the dollar for a second straight day.
The dollar lost as much as 1 percent against the yen in a matter of minutes on Friday before moderating, a day after Tokyo authorities were believed to have intervened to prop up the currency. It was last down 0.3 percent on the day at 157.03 JPY=EBS.
"The move is clearly - thus far anyway - a lot more modest than the moves that we saw in dollar-yen yesterday," said Mike Brown, senior research analyst at Pepperstone.
Comments from Japan's top foreign exchange diplomat, Atsushi Mimura, and the yen's jump sparked speculation among currency traders of another round of intervention by Japan.
Most major European markets were closed for holidays and the FTSE 100 FTSE ended lower by 0.1 percent.
The S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq rose 0.9 percent to record closing highs on Friday, boosted by robust earnings and a dip in crude prices. May trading followed the indexes' biggest monthly percentage gains in years.
Apple shares rose 3.3 percent on Friday after the iPhone maker reported third-quarter sales growth above estimates.
Global shares clocked their biggest monthly rise since 2020 in April, buoyed by earnings optimism, even as oil flows remain disrupted through the vital Strait of Hormuz.
Iran on Thursday said it would respond with "long and painful strikes" on US positions if Washington renewed attacks and restated its claim to the strait.
A senior United Arab Emirates official said on Friday that Tehran could not be trusted over any unilateral arrangements it makes for the Strait of Hormuz, in a sign of deep mistrust on all sides as efforts to end the war in the Middle East remained at an impasse.
Brent crude LCOc1 was off 1.7 percent to $108.51 a barrel.
Japan Draws a Line for Yen
The Japanese yen was poised for its strongest weekly rally since early February, while investors remained on alert for further action from Japan's Ministry of Finance.
"From here, the market will look for actual intervention rather than stern warnings to the market, and whether the US side speaks up in favour of Japan’s actions," Saxo market strategists wrote in a Friday note.
Elsewhere, the euro was off 0.1 percent at $1.1718 EUR=EBS and away from a three-week trough of $1.1655. The pound was down 0.2 percent to 1.3569 after earlier hitting a 10-week high GBP=EBS.
It was a central-bank-heavy week after the Bank of England, European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve all kept rates on hold, even as spiking energy prices have raised the risk of inflation.
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said board members were debating whether to increase rates and noted that data over the next six weeks would decide the issue. 0#EURIRPR
"The messages conveyed during the press conference leave us with a distinct perception that the consensus among governors is that they will hike policy rates at the next meeting on June 11," analysts at Citi said in a note.
"We find no reason to alter our expectation of back-to-back rate hikes in June and July."
That followed a hawkish shift from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, leading markets to give up hope for a rate cut there this year.
The pivot left US 10-year Treasury yields up 7 basis points on the week at 4.38 percent US10YT=TWEB, but off a high of 4.436 percent.
