Japanese shares seen bouncing back

29 May, 2006

Japanese shares are seen bouncing back this week as the rout of emerging markets and commodities wears out and the yen loses its strength, analysts said.
For the week ending May 26, the Tokyo Stock Exchange's benchmark Nikkei-225 index lost 184.69 points or 1.14 percent to 15,970.76.
The index Tuesday slumped to a three-month low of 15,599.20 in tandem with other global market on concerns about higher interest rates and the negative effect on economic growth.
The broader TOPIX index of all first-section shares slipped 24.79 points or 1.51 percent to 1,613.78.
"Japanese shares will return back to the psychological level of 16,000 points as the shares have become a reasonable price," said Masayoshi Yano, senior strategist at Tokai Tokyo Research Center.
He said the market will focus on economic indicators such as Japan's industrial production index for April and US employment report for May this week.
"The market will be tracking the economic indicators as clues for the outlook of interest rates and share prices are expected to try the 16,600 points level," he said.
Late in the past week, investors took heart from an upward revision of US first quarter growth which helped ease concerns over the outlook for US interest rates.
The US Federal Reserve has increased interest rates 16 consecutive times since June 2004, putting the federal funds rates currently at 5.0 percent.
The Fed will closely watch economic data until the next meeting of its Federal Open Market Committee on June 29.
The dollar rebounded in Asian trade on Friday, in good news for Japanese exporters who earn more when the yen is weak.
Toshihiro Matsuno, analyst at SMBC Friends Securities, forecast that the Nikkei-225 will be traded at between the 15,600 and 16,500 points levels this week.
"As far as looking at the current US economic situation, the US employment report is expected to be not so disappointing. And concerns such as a firmer yen, volative emerging markets and commodities have dissipated. The share prices are to be on a rising track," he said.

Read Comments