Oil futures rise after US strikes Iran nuclear sites

Global financial markets start the week digesting the implications of the US attacks on Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend.
Fears of a disruption to global oil supply drove up New York benchmark WTI crude oil futures more than 4 percent on Sunday to the mid 78 dollars a barrel range. That's the highest in about five months.
The trend continued in Tokyo on Monday with traders buying Dubai crude futures for November delivery. The contract rose more than 3 percent to 66,390 yen, or about 456 dollars a kiloliter.
In currency markets, the Japanese yen weakened to the 146 level against the dollar.
Analysts say investors are moving into safe-haven assets, such as the dollar, as they assess how the escalation in the conflict will affect the global economy.

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Japan Times

an hour ago

• Japan Times

Lawson beta tests futuristic convenience store with KDDI

Lawson opened an experimental high-tech convenience store in Tokyo on Monday, aiming to improve operational efficiency and collect data. The new store — Real x Tech Lawson — is designed to test a range of technologies, including robotics, digital signs and artificial intelligence. 'We hope to make this tech convenience store a standard for society,' Lawson CEO Sadanobu Takemasu said at a news conference. The tech-powered Lawson is located in Linkpillar 1 North at Takanawa Gateway City. The building is also the new headquarters of KDDI, which owns 50% of Lawson. KDDI and Lawson have said that they will utilize KDDI's tech expertise to improve the convenience store experience. The new store features a robot that partially automates the cooking of Kara-age Kun fried chicken, a Lawson favorite. It also features a floor cleaning robot. Digital panels are installed throughout the shop to display information about products, recommended items and local events. A self-checkout system is equipped with a display that shows a 3D avatar of a real Lawson employee. They can remotely handle checkout when a customer needs help. The store will also gather data, such as the workload of employees and stocking levels, with tags and cameras, so that AI agents can advise on how to improve operations. Digital signs are everywhere at a new high-tech Lawson that opened on Monday in Tokyo. | Kazuaki Nagata While KDDI and Lawson said they hope to increase the number of tech-powered convenience stores, they did not offer specific targets, saying that they want to see how the experiment at the new store goes. 'We want to identify what will work and what won't at this store,' said KDDI CEO Hiromichi Matsuda. In February last year, KDDI announced a ¥500 billion investment in Lawson to leverage the chain's nationwide retail network and customer base. As Lawson has about 14,700 convenience stores in Japan, the purchase significantly increases physical touch points for KDDI. KDDI began to purchase Lawson stock in 2019 when it bought 2.1% of the convenience store's equity. The telecom company now owns Lawson together with Mitsubishi Corp. The general trading company holds the other 50% of the stock. Given that convenience store chains are facing intense competition in recent years, especially from drug stores that sell daily goods, Lawson aims to utilize technology to better compete.

Japan Times

2 hours ago

• Japan Times

Ishiba to skip key NATO summit following Iran strikes

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Monday abruptly canceled his trip for a NATO leaders' summit this week, a day before his scheduled departure from Tokyo, following U.S. military strikes on Iranian nuclear sites Saturday. Citing 'various circumstances,' the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo announced Ishiba's withdrawal but said Japan's top diplomat, Takeshi Iwaya, would attend the summit at The Hague in his place. Asked Monday during an annual memorial service in Okinawa Prefecture if the trip was still happening, Ishiba hinted that his decision would hinge on the participation of other regional countries. Japan is not a member of NATO, but was invited to join the summit along with other so-called IP-4 countries — South Korea, Australia and New Zealand — with deep security ties to the alliance. Already, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and new South Korean President Lee Jae-myung have decided to skip the gathering. The government had previously confirmed Ishiba's attendance at the NATO summit from Tuesday to Thursday. The sudden change in plan came after Tokyo reportedly scrapped annual 'two-plus-two' security talks between the two countries' foreign affairs and defense chiefs after the U.S. asked Japan last week to hike its defense budget even further. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, at a news conference Monday morning, dismissed the report and said the schedule for the next two-plus-two meeting has not been decided. U.S. demands for increased defense spending among its allies and partners is expected to loom large over the NATO summit. The Pentagon had said in a statement to The Japan Times last Friday that Japan should be subject to its 'global standard' for its allies to spend 5% of gross domestic product on defense, though other media reports said Washington was asking Tokyo to dole out 3.5% of GDP. 'The government's stance remains unchanged: what matters is not the amount of money, but the substance of our defense capabilities,' Hayashi said, while declining to comment further on the Pentagon's remarks. Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said in April that the country was zeroing-in on hitting its target of 2% of GDP, with the figure hitting 1.8% this year. Hayashi also repeatedly dodged questions on whether Japan supports the U.S. military's intervention in the Israel-Iran conflict, reiterating only that Tokyo calls for the deescalation of tensions as soon as possible. Japan had previously condemned Israel's surprise attack on Iran. The abrupt cancellation also means that a possible meeting between the prime minister and U.S. President Donald Trump is no longer happening. Observers had anticipated the two would engage in more discussions on unilateral tariffs the U.S. has imposed on Japan since March. A previous meeting between the two leaders on the sidelines of a Group of Seven summit last week in Canada failed to deliver an agreement on tariffs or a breakthrough of any kind, despite repeated suggestions that progress was being made in recent trade negotiations.

NHK

5 hours ago

• NHK

Japan to cut super-long bond issuance amid demand slump

Japan's Finance Ministry plans to cut this year's issuance of super-long government bonds amid slumping demand for debt instruments with maturities of over 10 years. The ministry presented the proposal on Friday to financial institutions that take part in auctions. It is rare for it to review a bond issuance plan midway through a fiscal year. The revised plan calls for trimming issuance of bonds, including maturities of 20-to-40 years, starting July. That represents a reduction of 3.6 trillion yen, or almost 25 billion dollars for the current fiscal year. The bonds would be replaced by others with shorter maturity and more bonds for individual investors. The total value of bond issuance for this fiscal year would be kept unchanged at 176.9 trillion yen, or about 1.2 trillion dollars. The ministry draws up a bond-issuance plan every fiscal year and conducts auctions accordingly. But the auction for 20-year bonds held in May saw the weakest demand since 2012.