South Korean won rises 1% against the US dollar.

Rakuten Securities chief strategist Masayuki Kubota said governance improvements and pressure from the Tokyo Stock Exchange to raise shareholder returns have driven a rise in buybacks in recent years. If that trend continues, Japanese small- and mid-cap stocks could outperform large caps, as many still trade below book value. He added that large caps have historically tended to underperform when interest rates rise.

Poland's Armed Forces Operational Command said it is verifying a suspected violation after an unidentified object approached Polish airspace from Belarus.