TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average posted its biggest jump in a month on Friday, rebounding from a one-month low hit in the previous session, as chip-related stocks surged and the incoming Bank of Japan governor backed the current easy policy.
The Nikkei ended up 1.29% at 27,453.48, tracking sideways in the afternoon session after climbing steadily in the morning. The index had dipped to the lowest since Jan. 23 at 27,046.08 on Wednesday. Japanese markets were closed on Thursday for a national holiday.
Japan’s Nikkei ends at 1-month low amid political, rate-hike worries
Friday’s gains were lopsided, with chip industry giants Tokyo Electron and Advantest contributing nearly half of the Nikkei’s total 349-point gain. Advantest was the Nikkei’s top performer, up 8.22%, followed by Tokyo Electron’s 7.13% advance, after U.S. peer Nvidia forecast better-than-expected quarterly sales.
The broader Topix rose a more modest 0.67% to 1,986.43.
Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor nominee Kazuo Ueda started several hours of lower house testimony, saying that the current BOJ policy was “appropriate” and “necessary”, although he added that “if the underlying outlook for prices improves further, we will have no choice but to think about policy normalisation.”
Earlier in the day, data showed Japan’s consumer inflation hit a 41-year high in January.
“He’s dovish, as expected - or at least he’s not saying anything specific about a policy change,” Nomura Securities strategist Naka Matsuzawa said.
“I think he’s intentionally doing that so that the market will calm down a little bit about policy change expectations.”
The idea of low rates for longer lifted the Nikkei’s real estate sector by 2.19% to make it the top performer, while the same outlook sent the banking sector to a 0.67% slide.
But the session’s gains couldn’t save the Nikkei from a second straight weekly loss, dropping 0.22%. The Topix posted a 0.18% weekly slide.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.