Tokyo investors will be keeping a close eye on this week's Bank of Japan (BOJ) policy meeting for further monetary easing measures, as speculation over policy moves helped lift the market to a fresh five-week high on Friday.
The Nikkei-225 index, which jumped 1.59% to a five-week high on Thursday, added another 139.32 points to finish at 15,274.07, rising 2.9% on the week. The broader Topix index of all first-section shares rose 0.70%, or 8.61 points, to 1,236.97, adding 2.1%.
The market got a boost from a weakening yen -- which is good for Japanese exporters' profitability -- as the dollar broke through the 103-yen mark for the first time since mid-January.
BOJ easing speculation tends to push down the yen, while fears over the Ukraine crisis subsided, boosting investor sentiment along with appetite for riskier assets, said SMBC Nikko Securities general manager of equities Hiroichi Nishi.
"There is a shift back to risk-on trade and Japan stocks still lag their peers," he added.
Investors have been betting that an April sales tax hike in Japan could force the BOJ to act to counter a drop in consumer spending.
The bank last year unveiled an unprecedented policy blitz -- similar to the U.S. Federal Reserve's quantitative easing -- as part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's broader bid to stoke the world's third-largest economy.
© (c) 2014 AFP
4 Comments
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nath
There you go, printing more money out of thin air and enslaving the people into paying till your grand, grand kids.
makes1
It TRULY is the "land of the setting sun."
Jean ValJean
Right,... because they haven't hyperinflate the currency supply quite enough yet. Morons.
globalwatcher
Just want to tell you a big correction of US equity market is on a horizon. For long term investors, it will be a great buying opportunity. Get ready.