Tokyo stocks ended the session higher after another day of volatile trading on Wednesday, stock data for Aug. 7 showed.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed up 414.16 points, or 1.19 percent, in the 35,000 mark at 35,089.62. Japan’s second-largest index, the Topix, rose 55.00 points, or 2.26 percent, to 2,489.21.
In the prime stocks section of the exchange, the leaders of growth were banks, wholesale trading companies and brokerage firms. The rubber, financial services and insurance sectors performed well in all categories.
On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the number of shares that rose in price (2,881) exceeded the number that closed in the red (920), and the prices of 90 shares remained practically unchanged.
For the second day, shares of steelmaker Japan Steel Works (+11.63%) led the gains, followed by Sumitomo Mitsui Financial (+10.24%) and Sumitomo Chemical (+9.96%).
Top losers: NTT Data Corp (-10.81%), Daikin Industries (-9.95%) and Sumitomo Osaka Cement (-8.88%).
Stocks fell sharply in early trading in Tokyo today as traders booked profits after the Nikkei index rose more than 3,200 points yesterday, its biggest daily gain on record.
Buybacks in oversold sectors such as banks helped the market regain some ground, but it was the Bank of Japan’s comments that sent stocks higher, with the index at one point up more than 3 percent.
“The dovish message from bankers appears to have dampened market expectations for another rate hike in the near future, weakening the yen and providing some relief to Japanese stocks,” said Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Co.
The benchmark index has already recovered nearly half of the roughly 7,600 points it lost during a three-day losing streak through Monday, triggered by a global meltdown on fears of a U.S. recession and a surprise interest rate hike by the Bank of Japan last week.
While volatility hit Japanese stocks last week, Ichikawa said calmer days were likely ahead as “the market overreacted and it doesn’t look like the U.S. is heading into a recession right now.”
At the top of the most traded stocks in Japan, the lead for the 78th consecutive day was occupied by shares of Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp, which for the fifth day sold more than 250 million shares (397.29 million), marking its 273rd consecutive session in the top five. In second place for the sixth day were shares of the country’s leading financial group, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (180.52 million) (10d). Shares of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (146.83 million), (5d) remained in third position for the fourth session. Shares of chemical company Sumitomo Chemical (74.49 million), which had not been in the top five for the past 14 sessions, returned to fourth place. The top five trading leaders were closed by shares of Japan’s largest energy company, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), (63.9 million), (1d).
Please note that abnormal fluctuations in the Japanese market led to a rare situation where the three-day “red top” yesterday turned “green” and today continues to turn green for the second consecutive day.
The total trading volume of shares of Japanese market leaders today rose to 863.03 million.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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