Tokyo stocks close higherclose higher
Tokyo: Tokyo stocks closed higher on Monday as the yen fell further against the dollar, helping support market sentiment.
(FILES) NVIDIA's founder and CEO Jensen Huang speaks during the annual Nvidia GTC Artificial Intelligence Conference at SAP Center in San Jose, California, on March 18, 2024. - Wall Street stocks closed solidly higher on June 5, 2024, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both hitting fresh highs while chip designer Nvidia topped $3 trillion in market value. This makes Nvidia only the third US company to reach a market valuation of that level, after Microsoft and Apple. — AFP.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 0.92 percent, or 354.23 points, to 39,038.16, while the broader Topix index advanced one percent, or 27.46 points, to 2,782.49.
“Despite the unimpressive performance of the main US indices, a cheaper yen against the dollar worked as a tailwind for Japanese shares,” IwaiCosmo Securities said.A weaker Japanese currency helps exporters as it inflates their repatriated profits.
“Speculation about the Bank of Japan’s meeting (later this week) pushed up Japanese long-term yields,” prompting the purchase of banking shares, IwaiCosmo added. The central bank will hold a two-day monetary policy meeting through Friday, with some analysts speculating that it may reduce the scale of its bond-buying programme, part of its maverick monetary easing policies. The dollar stood at 157.04 yen, up from 155.59 yen in New York overnight.
Megabanks were higher in Tokyo, with Mizuho Financial Group climbing 1.25 percent to 3,147 yen, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial adding 1.66 percent to 1,650 yen, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial advancing 1.77 percent to 10,365 yen. Toyota gained 1.65 percent to 3,272 yen. Panasonic added 1.65 percent to 1,358 yen.
Hitachi jumped 4.89 percent to 17,150 yen after a weekend report by the Nikkei business newspaper said that the firm plans to train 50,000 employees in generative artificial intelligence.— AFP.
