Monday, 23 March 2015 13:11
TOKYO: Tokyo stocks rose 0.99 percent to a fresh 15-year high Monday, as global markets get a boost from speculation that the US Federal Reserve will not rush to hike interest rates.
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange added 194.14 points to close at 19,754.36, while the Topix index of all first-section shares climbed 0.74 percent, or 11.74 points, to 1,592.25.
“We’re seeing a wave of global money flow into stocks and bonds supported by the view that US monetary tightening will come later than expected,” Shoji Hirakawa, chief equity strategist at Okasan Securities, told Bloomberg News.
“The consensus is for the Nikkei to climb to 20,000 by the end of this month. But the stronger yen will weigh on exporters.”
US markets rose Friday as the Fed’s dovish comments on interest rates threw cold water on the likelihood of an early summer rate hike.
While the central bank opened the door for a rise this year, it said there was still weakness in the US economy, including low inflation and soft manufacturing. That sent the dollar tumbling against other currencies, including the yen, which hits the profitability of Japanese exporters.
In currency trading, the dollar bought 119.89 yen, down from 120.11 yen in New York and well off the 120.71 yen in Tokyo earlier Friday.
The Dow jumped 0.94 percent, the S&P 500 climbed 0.90 percent and the Nasdaq added 0.68 percent to end above 5,000 points for the first time since March 2000.
In Tokyo share trading, Toyota rose 1.66 percent to 8,741.0 yen following a report said the world’s biggest automaker is finalising plans for its first car assembly plant in Mexico — a move that would end a three-year freeze on building new factories.
Sharp jumped 4.62 percent to 249.0 yen after Terry Gou, the head of Hon Hai Precision, a major Apple supplier more commonly known as Foxconn, told Japan’s Toyo Keizai weekly that he was willing to discuss offering funds to Sharp as it tries to repair its battered balance sheet.
Nintendo jumped 3.58 percent 18,485.0 yen. Last week its stock surged by a third in two days of trading after saying it would enter the booming market for games on smartphones, in a U-turn long sought by investors.
Eisai Co. surged nearly 21 percent to 8,748.0 yen on upbeat preliminary results for a partner firm’s experimental Alzheimer’s disease treatment.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2015
