TOKYO: Japanese shares rose in morning trade Monday as they played catch-up with gains on Wall Street after the US Congress extended a payroll tax holiday.
The Nikkei index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange broke for lunch 1.13 percent, or 94.50 points, up at 8,489.66. The Topix index of all first section shares rose 0.48 percent or 3.47 points to 726.59.
Tokyo shares tracked surges in New York Friday, boosted by upbeat US economic data as well as a move by US lawmakers to extend temporary tax breaks and unemployment benefits, ending earlier Republican threats to block it.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday closed up 124.35 points (1.02 percent) at 12,294.00.
The broader S&P 500 gained 11.33 (0.90 percent) to 1,265.33, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 19.19 (0.74 percent) to 2,618.64.
Sentiment was lifted by the absence for the rest of the year of scheduled eurozone events that could further aggravate market fears about the region's debt woes, said Hideyuki Ishiguro, supervisor of investment strategy at Okasan Securities.
Still, the Nikkei could run out of steam as participants are expected to take a wait-and-see approach until fund mangers return from the holiday in the US market, said Kenichi Hirano, operating officer at Tachibana Securities.
New York and other major Western markets will be closed Monday for the Christmas holiday.
"(Traders) must have trimmed long positions before the break," Kirano told Dow Jones Newswires. "Given firm US economic indicators, they may start buying back once they return."
The forex market was also subdued due to the holiday.
The dollar stood at 77.98 yen, little changed from 78.06 yen in New York Friday.
The euro was at $1.3054 and 101.81 yen, mixed from $1.3040 and 101.86 yen in New York Friday.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.