The Nikkei star index rose 3% to 28,040.16 points and the Topix extended index gained 2.33% to 1,978.70 points.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange closed on Wednesday with a jump of 3% for its seventh consecutive session in the green, driven in particular by the weakness of the yen once morest the dollar, a favorable exchange rate movement for Japanese exporting companies.
The Nikkei star index rose 3% to 28,040.16 points and the Topix extended index gained 2.33% to 1,978.70 points.
The Japanese currency’s continued decline once morest the greenback, which pushed the dollar past the 120 yen mark on Tuesday for the first time in six years, is good for companies in export-reliant sectors, such as the electronics and automotive, Chiyo Takatori of Daiwa Securities told AFP.
“The market has become quite favorable to risk taking. Those who held short positions are unwinding them and focusing more on the positive side of things,” commented Shogo Maekawa of JPMorgan Asset Management, quoted by the Bloomberg agency.
The New York Stock Exchange, which had staggered on Monday following a more aggressive speech from the head of the US Federal Reserve, for its part ended on a rebound on Tuesday when the market seems to have integrated this data, also participating in Wednesday’s rise in Tokyo. .
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index gained 1.8% around 06:30 GMT.
On the side of values
SOFTBANK GROUP: the juggernaut of investments in new technologies SoftBank Group saw its title jump by 7.21% to 5,421 yen, notably propelled by the performance in New York and Hong Kong of the action of Chinese Alibaba, of which it is the largest shareholder.
The Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba announced on Tuesday that it would increase its share buyback program to $25 billion to appease its shareholders, at a time when a tightening of regulations in China has melted its capitalization.
TOYOTA: the car manufacturer Toyota (+3.99% to 2,137 yen), which had previously announced the shutdown of 17 of its 28 production lines in Japan between Monday and Wednesday due to disruptions at some of its suppliers linked to the violent earthquake of March 16, on Tuesday scheduled additional suspensions for Thursday and Friday, concerning 8 production lines.
On the side of currencies and oil
On the foreign exchange market, the yen fell further once morest the dollar, at 121.12 yen for one dollar around 06:30 GMT once morest 120.80 yen on Tuesday at 21:00 GMT.
The Japanese currency also depreciated once morest the euro, which was worth 133.66 yen once morest 133.23 yen the day before.
The European currency was stable once morest the greenback, at the rate of one euro for 1.1036 dollars once morest 1.1029 dollars on Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. GMT.
Oil prices rose slightly: around 06:20 GMT the price of a barrel of American WTI gained 0.23% to 109.52 dollars and that of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea took 0.3% to 115.83 dollars .
