JP: Nikkei rewrites 6-month closing high as yen eases further
The Nikkei average renewed its six-month closing high on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Wednesday, driven by purchases on the back of the yen’s easing against other major currencies.
The 225-issue Nikkei average rose 28.16 points, or 0.18 percent, to end at 15,646.23, its highest level since Jan. 23. On Tuesday, the key market gauge climbed 88.67 points.
The TOPIX index of all First-Section issues advanced 1.83 points, or 0.14 percent, to end at 1,292.24, after rising 4.34 points the previous day.
Both indexes extended their winning streak to a fourth session.
The easier yen helped push up several export-oriented names, including automakers and electronics makers, and the Nikkei average’s heavily weighted component names, brokers said.
The key indexes, however, briefly slipped into negative territory in the morning, pressured by profit-taking amid a short-term sense of overheating after the Nikkei average advanced for three straight sessions through Tuesday.
Despite an overnight drop in New York equities, Tokyo stocks opened higher thanks to the yen’s easing against other major currencies.
“Stock prices have been underpinned by solid earnings reports” from key Japanese companies, said Akira Tanoue, deputy managing director at Nomura Securities Co.
Despite the key indexes’ advance, falling issues outnumbered rising ones 948 to 701 in the TSE’s First Section, while 166 issues were unchanged.
Volume increased to 1.943 billion shares from Tuesday’s 1.681 billion shares.
In index futures trading on the Osaka Exchange, the key September contract on the Nikkei average was down 10 points at 15,630.
