Asian Markets Soar, Yen Slumps Amid BOJ Rate Hold

Markets in Asia staged a blistering rally on Friday after the previous week's selloff in tech stocks, with South Korea's KOSPI blasting as much as 17% higher. This was alongside gains of more than 7% in Taiwan and a jump of over 5% in Japan's Nikkei 225 as traders pounced on battered chipmaker shares. The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 4.7%.

The KOSPI, despite its record gains, was still on track to lose almost 25% in July, marking its largest monthly loss since the Asian financial crisis in 1997. Currency markets were processing the implications of unprecedented coordinated intervention by Japanese and Korean foreign exchange authorities on Thursday to strengthen their respective currencies against the US dollar.

The yen fell on Friday to 160.69 after the Bank of Japan's rate-setting committee kept rates on hold, in line with market expectations. The won also reversed some gains after reaching its strongest level in nine months overnight.