PM Abe's No. 2 Suga formally announces run for top spot – Nikkei

The Nikkei reports that the Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga on Wednesday announced his candidacy to succeed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, vowing to push forward with the Japanese premier's signature economic policies.    

Lead paragraphs

The 71-year-old Suga, who has been Abe's right-hand man for nearly eight years, is on course to secure about 70 percent of the votes of party lawmakers, making him the clear front-runner.    

The race for the party's top post will officially kick off on Sept. 8 and a new leader will be elected at a joint plenary meeting of LDP party members from both houses of parliament to be held on Sept. 14.    

Market implications

The nomination is bearish for the yen. When news hit that Abe would resign, the yen rallied.

If chosen as prime minister, Suga said he would push forward with "Abenomics," Abe's signature policy mix based on the three arrows of monetary easing by the Bank of Japan, fiscal stimulus through government spending and structural reforms.    

Abenomics has been bearish for the yen because the stimulus designed to weaken the yen was supposed to help to undo the aftermath of overly cautious monetary policy that had led to higher real interest rates and an expensive currency.