Japanese share prices will likely be rangebound next week as the market cautiously watches foreign exchange rates after Tokyo this week stepped into markets to stem the surging yen, analysts said Friday.
Tokyo on Wednesday sold off the yen in Japan, Europe and the United States for the first time since 2004 in a bid to stem its appreciation against the dollar and help safeguard a faltering recovery.
The move sent the greenback soaring and by Friday afternoon trade the yen was sitting at 85.72 to the dollar, well down from the 82.86 it hit before Wednesday's intervention.
The market is also waiting for a US Federal Reserve policy meeting on Tuesday, said Kazuhiro Takahashi, equity information chief at Daiwa Securities Capital Markets.
The Fed may offer a brighter economic outlook after some indicators suggested improvement in the world's biggest economy, he said.
Trading is expected to be thin due to public holidays on Monday and Thursday in Japan, dealers said.
In the week to September 17, the headline Nikkei index gained 386.92 points, or 4.19 percent, to 9,626.09 as exporters were lifted by the weaker yen. The Topix index of all first section shares of the Tokyo Stock Exchange rose 18.37 points, or 2.20 percent, to 852.09.
The market continued to climb as Prime Minister Naoto Kan announced his new cabinet, which kept Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda in his post.
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