Thursday, 30 July 2015 11:49
TOKYO: Tokyo stocks rose 1.08 percent Thursday, boosted by a wea
ker yen and another rally on Wall Street, as the Federal Reserve remained upbeat on the US economy.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 219.92 points to 20,522.83 while the Topix index of all first-section issues was up 0.81 percent, or 13.27 points, to 1,647.21.
Exporters were boosted as the dollar rose to 124.19 yen from 123.91 yen in New York, while traders were cheered by a second successive advance in US stocks. The Dow closed 0.69 percent higher Wednesday while and the broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.73 percent.
Fed policymakers said the world’s top economy had expanded “moderately” in recent months and the jobs market strengthened, although it also noted some weakness in business investment and exports.
They gave no fresh clues about when they will raise interest rates, widely expected by the end of the year.
The Fed statement “was as envisioned”, Mitsushige Akino, executive officer at Ichiyoshi Asset Management, told Bloomberg News.
“So long as the US economy keeps growing moderately, markets will trade with the expectations of higher interest rates. That they see the US economy gradually expanding will be of comfort” to investors, he said.
US second-quarter GDP data is to be released later Thursday, with economists expecting a recovery from the previous three months’ 0.2 percent contraction.
Investors were also upbeat about Japanese corporate earnings as more than 500 companies report their latest quarterly results on Thursday and Friday, representing nearly a third of all firms on the Topix.
Industrial conglomerate Hitachi jumped 6.51 percent to 784.6 yen after first-quarter net income grew 31 percent on higher sales.
Nintendo soared 8.26 percent to 22,195 yen as the videogame dominant swung to a $ 67 million net profit in the three months to June, reversing a loss in the same period a year ago.
Panasonic, however, tumbled 5.79 percent to 1,447.5 yen as the consumer electronics giant said after markets closed Wednesday that its April-June operating profit edged down seven percent.
Sony closed down 2.04 percent at 3,585 yen before it announced its April-June net profit more than tripled to $ 664 million and kept its full-year forecast unchanged.
