Yen, bonds, safe-haven gold gain after North Korea's 'hydrogen bomb' test

 Japanese yen-Monday as North Korea latest nuclear test provoked the usual knee-jerk shift to safe havens, though equity losses were modest amid expectations the flare-up would prove fleeting.The dollar was marked down as deep as 109.22 yen at the opening, off a whole yen from late on Friday, but there was no follow-through selling and it was last at 109.84.

Japan is the world's largest creditor nation and traders tend to assume Japanese investors would repatriate funds at times of crisis, thus pushing up the yen. Many wonder, however, if Japanese assets would really remain in favour if an actual war broke out in Asia.Japan's Nikkei did not take the news well, losing 0.9 per cent. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.4 per cent with South Korea's main index down 0.6 per cent.

"Like a bad horror movie, the North Korea saga intersperses moments of calm, with occasional action to jolt you out of your chair," said ING's head of Asian research than Rob Carnell."But we have been here now many, many times," he added. "Unless this is the precursor to US military action, which we doubt, then in a little over a day or two, tensions will calm again, making this a good buying opportunity for investors with a strong enough nerve."

North Korea on Sunday conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test, which it said was of an advanced hydrogen bomb for a long-range missile, prompting the threat of a "massive" military response from the United States if it or its allies were threatened.

US job growth slowed more than expected in August after two straight months of hefty increases. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 156,000 last month, while economists had forecast an increase of 180,000.On a brighter note, the Institute for Supply Management reported its factory activity index soared to 58.8 in August, the highest reading since April 2011.