OVERNIGHT

A weaker dollar after the Fed's do-nothing comments sent currencies across Asia higher and several stock markets there Friday took their lead from the action. The weaker dollar translated into a stronger yen driving the Nikkei index down 1.2%, not good news for Japanese officials who have been trying to drive the yen down with their negative interest rates and looked forward to ramping up exports against a stronger dollar.

The weaker dollar also affected oil prices, sending them higher, a plus for materials energy shares
The Shanghai Composite  rallied 1.3% while the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index edged up 0.5%
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.2%, and Korea’s Kospi rose 0.3%.

The WSJ reported other currencies that rallied against the dollar.

Other currencies in Asia are hovering near multi-month highs against the U.S. dollar. The moves reflect investors’ willingness to take on more risk while the dollar is weak.

On Friday, Chinese authorities guided the yuan stronger to 6.4628 per U.S. dollar, a 0.5% appreciation and the strongest move since mid-December.The Australian dollar rose to $0.7680 per U.S. dollar, its highest since last July. The Korean won, Thai baht, Singapore dollar and Malaysian ringgit have also rallied versus the greenback.