Comments
Japan’s Nikkei share average rose more than 1 per cent on Thursday, led by automakers which reported strong June sales in the US market, and broadly supported by a weaker yen.
The Nikkei share average gained 1.2 per cent to 20,568.65 by mid-morning.
Greek crisis
The market has been pressured by Greece’s festering debt crisis, but investors are buying back shares on the dips, traders said.
“It’s merely a rebound and not aggressive buying,’’ said Masashi Oda, senior investment officer at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, adding that buying force was not strong enough to push the Nikkei above a 18-1/2-year high of 20,952.71 hit last month.
Many investors were also awaiting Thursday’s scheduled release of the closely watched US non-farm payroll report for June, he noted.
“If the US economic data is strong, the next thing investors will see is whether the Federal Reserve will hint a rate hike amid Greek woes in Europe,’’ he said.
“If the Fed takes a cautious stance on how the global market will perceive that, its move on a rate decision is in focus now.’’
Automakers vroom
Automakers were strong, with Nissan Motor Co rising as high as 3.6 per cent after its June US sales rose 13 per cent on the year helped by a 54 per cent increase in its popular small SUV Rogue.
Honda Motor Co added 2.3 per cent after showing a 4 per cent rise in US sales, while Toyota Motor Co gained 1.3 per cent after its June sales rose 4 per cent, roughly in line with expectations.
Meanwhile, the dollar traded at 123.22 yen, pulling further away from a five-week low of 121.93.
Construction stocks attracted buying on hopes for stronger domestic demand. Kajima Corp jumped 3.2 per cent, Shimizu Corp soared 2.8 per cent, while Taisei Corp surged 2.7 per cent.
Goldman Sachs analysts say that consumption is expected to improve in the second half of the year. The brokerage favours reflation-related sectors such as financials and real estate, which had long underperformed but have been rebounding since spring, it said.
The broader Topix gained 0.9 per cent to 1,650.95 and the JPX-Nikkei Index 400 rose 0.9 per cent to 14,900.29.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.