Japanese stocks advanced on Tuesday as the yen strengthened to its highest level since February against the US dollar, driven by rising expectations of a Bank of Japan rate hike and the strongest wage growth in nearly three decades.
The Nikkei 225 rose 556.2 points or 0.8% to open at 65,843.69.
The yen jumped past 154 per dollar on Tuesday, driven in part by growing US political pressure for Japan to support the yen through rate hikes, according to Trading Economics.
Markets expect the Bank of Japan to hike rates at its September policy meeting as Japan's nominal wages rose 4.7% in July, topping the 3.9% market forecast and accelerating from 4% in June. In real terms, wages rose 2.4% year over year, the fastest pace of increase since May 2021.