Japanese equities may rise strongly on hopes the US government and the world's central banks will take co-ordinated action to rein in the financial crisis and runaway share prices, dealers said.
Stocks are expected to look up on expectations that authorities will step in to help stabilise markets and alleviate liquidity concerns to prevent the credit crisis from worsening, they said.
Washington's reported plan to create an entity where financial bodies will be able to park soured mortgage-backed securities and other bad debt has "given markets a sigh of relief," said Okasan Securities strategist Hirokazu Fujiki. Although details of the plan remain undisclosed, "market sentiment has been lifted and insecurity has receded, also helped by co-operation among central banks to supply markets dollar funds," he added.
Optimism that central banks will help markets is expected to spur rallies on Wall Street and in turn in Japan, Tamotsu Numazaki, a manager at Traders Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires. Japanese shares closed up 3.76 percent Friday, after a rough roller-coaster ride this week following the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers and fears other financial titans may follow suit.
But over the week Japan's headline Nikkei-225 index was down 2.4 percent or 293.9 points to end on Friday at 11,920.86. The broader Topix index of all first-section shares also fell 28.08 points or 2.39 percent to 1,149.12.
The Bank of Japan alone has injected a total of 11 trillion yen (104.76 billion dollars) since Tuesday in an attempt to ensure that the supply of funds will not dry up. Stocks were also boosted after British and US regulators put the brakes on short-selling shares - which is when dealers sell borrowed stock to profit from an anticipated price drop.
Markets remained cautious over reports Morgan Stanley is in talks to seek a buyer. "The market remains distrustful towards the US government since it perceives it as having double standards," said Fujiki, referring to Washington's decision to bail out insurer American International Group but let Lehman Brothers fail.
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