The Nikkei rises:The Nikkei stock average rose on Thursday to hit a three-week high, boosted by overnight gains on Wall Street, with mega-cap Fast Retailing and technology stocks weighing.
The Nikkei was up 0.63 percent at 38,190.85 points at midday, after hitting 38,408.19 points earlier in the day, the index’s highest level since Aug. 1. Technology stocks were a major driver of gains in the stock market even though the yen weakened against the dollar after the opening in Japan.
“Tech stocks with a significant weighting performed well, although momentum faded with the yen, helping to prop up other stocks that may have been lower in the current currency market environment,” said Kentaro Hayashi, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities.
The yen had strengthened below the psychological barrier of 145 against the dollar; however, the currency lost some of that momentum and was last trading around 145.47.
The recent minutes of the last Federal Reserve meeting and the downward revision of payrolls data have consolidated the view that an interest rate cut will take place in September. Something similar has been reflected in Japan and has been transmitted to several names in the market.
Uniqlo-owner Fast Retailing rose 1.34 percent and was the biggest contributor to the Nikkei average’s rise. Advantest, a leader in chip testing, rose 2.14 percent.
Meanwhile, the broader Topix index rose 0.08 percent to 2,666.92 points. However, the relatively smaller move in the Topix compared to that of the Nikkei was indicative that the market’s advance was driven by gains in heavyweight technology stocks.
In the automotive sector, Toyota Motor fell 1.75 percent and was the biggest drag on the Topix. Its peers, Honda Motor and Mazda Motor, rose 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.
Japan Tobacco (JT) rose 1.56 percent after announcing its agreement to buy Poway, California-based Vector Group for about $2.4 billion.
The pharmaceutical sector was the biggest gainer among the 33 industrial sub-indexes on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, up 1.78 percent, while the brokerage sector was the worst performer, underperforming its sector (-1.59 percent); the banking sector was second only to the brokerage sector with an overall drop of -1.04 percent.
(With contributions from Reuters.)
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