Tokyo stocks rose on Friday on rising expectations of an interest rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve, but gains were capped by profit expectations from Japanese companies, U.S. stock data showed. May 10.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 155.13 points (0.41%) since Thursday to 38,229.11. Japan’s second-largest Topix index closed up 14.75 points, or 0.54%, at 2,728.21.
In the prime securities section of the exchange (Prime), the growth leaders were the stocks of ocean carriers, oil and coal companies, as well as manufacturers of metal products.
Growth leaders: Konami Corp (+9.27%), SUMCO Corp (+8.36%) and Mercari (+9.10%).
Top losers: Dainippon Screen Mfg (-12.24%), Tokai Carbon (-7.17%) and Asahi Kasei Corp (-5.17%).
Trading started strongly on Thursday as traders worried about the business outlook after some of Japan’s biggest companies issued modest profit forecasts for the 2024 financial year.
Stock players “reacted to the weaker-than-expected earnings outlook because they expected good results amid a strong U.S. economy and a weak yen,” said Shingo Ide, chief equity strategist at NLI Research Institute.
Brokers said the Nikkei showed a sharp rise as it approached the 39,000 threshold, also boosted by investors withdrawing their profits ahead of the weekend.
Among the most actively traded stocks in Japan, the lead for the 16th day is held by shares of Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp (437.08 million) (!) (211th consecutive trading day in the top five). Shares of automaker Nissan Motor (85.04 million), (1d) immediately returned to second place. The third position was retained by the newspapers of the country’s main financial group, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, which continued to increase sales volume (73.83M). Mitsubishi Heavy Industries shares dropped to the fourth line and finally left the top three with declining quotes (57.77 million) (5d). The top five trading leaders were closed by the securities of Japan’s largest energy company, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) (47.37 million), (58d).
The total trading volume of shares of the Japanese market leaders grows for the fourth day in a row, reaching the highest since October 30, 2023: 701.09 million shares. It should be noted that the peak was also reached in October thanks to record sales by Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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