North Korea launched a missile in the direction of the east ahead of Asia’s Friday trading day.

The unidentified missile flew over Japan before landing 2,000 km east of Hokkaido, Reuters said, citing Japanese broadcaster NHK. Following the North’s latest launch, South Korea has responded by firing its own missile, according to Reuters.

The hermit state had warned through a state agency on Thursday that it would “sink” Japan, Reuters reported. North Korea had fired another ballistic missile which passed over northern Japan before falling into the sea on Aug. 29 local time.

The dollar fell against the safe-haven yen on the news, falling to 109.96 yen from levels around 110.27 by 6:22 a.m. HK/SIN. The Swiss franc, another safe-haven currency, firmed to trade at 0.9618 francs to the dollar after trading as low as 0.9636 earlier in the session.

Gold prices also climbed to $1,332.65 an ounce by 6:50 a.m. HK/SIN following news of the launch from levels around $1,329 seen before the news. The yellow metal is often regarded as a safe haven in times of geopolitical uncertainty.

Elsewhere, markets digested better-than-expected U.S. August consumer prices released on Thursday. The consumer price index rose 0.4 percent in August, a touch above the 0.3 percent increased forecast by economists in a Reuters poll. Some investors speculated that the beat could potentially influence the U.S. Federal Reserve to hike interest rates once more this year.

The Bank of England was also on the radar after it kept interest rates on hold at 0.25 percent, but noted that a withdrawal of monetary stimulus could be required “over the coming months.” The pound traded as high as $1.3406 following the news compared to the $1.32 handle seen before.

In Asia Pacific equities, futures pointed to a lower open for Japanese stocks. Nikkei futures traded in Chicago were down 0.44 percent at 19,720 and Osaka futures were 0.34 percent lower at 19,740 by 6:24 a.m. HK/SIN. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed at 19,807.44 on Thursday.

Australian SPI futures, meanwhile, were 0.06 percent up at 5,742 compared to the S&P/ASX 200’s previous close of 5,738.678.

Stateside, major indexes closed mixed. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.2 percent, or 45.3 points, to close at 22,203.48. The S&P 500 edged down 0.11 percent to end at 2,495.62 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq underperformed, sliding 0.48 percent to finish the session at 6,429.08.

On the energy front, oil rose overnight on the back of a weaker dollar and reports suggesting the oil demand would be picking up. Brent crude rose 0.6 percent to settle at $55.47 a barrel, which was its highest level in around five months, Reuters said. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude added 1.2 percent to settle at $49.89 after it briefly crossed the $50 level earlier in the session.