TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei posted its highest close in more than two weeks on Thursday, tracking an overnight rally on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve hiked rates as expected, while hopes for a breakthrough in the Russia-Ukraine conflict lifted sentiment.
The Nikkei share average jumped 3.46% to 26,652.89, its highest close since March 1. The broader Topix gained 2.47% to 1,899.01.
Main Wall Street stock indexes rose overnight after the Fed hiked interest rates for the first time since 2018 and laid out an aggressive plan for further increases to combat inflation.
“The markets got rid of the negative factors after the Fed’s announcement of rate hike,” said Shoichi Arisawa, general manager of the investment research department at IwaiCosmo Securities.
“In addition to that, we had some more positive cues, including the possibility of a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Chinese government’s favourable policy for technology stocks.”
Moscow and Kyiv held discussions about a status for Ukraine outside of NATO, lifting hopes for a breakthrough after three weeks of war.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said negotiations were becoming “more realistic”, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said proposals now being discussed were “in my view close to an agreement”.
Technology investor SoftBank Group jumped 5.89%, following an almost 40% surge in Alibaba, one of its holdings, in US trading after Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said Beijing would roll out support for the economy and keep markets stable.
Other heavyweights also gained, with Uniqlo clothing shop owner Fast Retailing jumping 6.92% and chip making equipment maker Tokyo Electron climbing 4.86%.
Japan East Railway fell 1.81% after the railway operator suspended bullet train operations to Fukushima and other regions in the north. The suspension came after a powerful magnitude 7.3 earthquake jolted Japan’s northeast coast off Fukushima late on Wednesday.
There were 201 advancers on the Nikkei against 20 decliners.
Comments
Comments are closed.