TOKYO, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) — Japan’s benchmark Nikkei stock index closed larger for the third straight day on Wednesday as weak U.S. financial knowledge raised hopes the U.S. Federal Reserve’s hawkish fee hikes could ease, though beneficial properties had been capped by subpar earnings from some U.S. tech giants.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 181.56 factors, or 0.67 %, from Tuesday to shut the day at 27,431.84, marking its highest closing degree since Sept. 20.
The broader Topix index, in the meantime, added 11.07 factors, or 0.58 %, to complete at 1,918.21.
Local brokers stated investor sentiment was buoyed following the discharge of information within the United States revealing that the rise in housing costs slowed in August from July.
In addition, they famous that the buyer confidence index falling in October from a month earlier, additionally supported the view that the Fed could ease its aggressive fee hikes from December, which can slender the rate of interest hole between Japan and the United States.
“Tuesday’s economic reading indicated that the U.S. economy is slowing, stirring speculation the Fed may lower the pace of its rate hikes from December,” Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Co., was quoted as saying.
Other analysts prompt that some buyers assumed a wait-and-see strategy as earnings season right here begins to swing into gear, with worse-than-expected earnings from U.S. tech giants Alphabet Inc. and Microsoft hurting associated points right here.
“As Japanese companies are starting to report earnings, many domestic investors and others want to see the results, so they’re likely to hold off on aggressive trading,” Ryuta Otsuka, a strategist at Toyo Securities, was quoted as saying.
By the shut of play, pharmaceutical, precision instrument and service-oriented points comprised people who gained probably the most.
The Nikkei’s largest winner was chemical materials maker Denka Co. Ltd., which surged 6.4 %, after reporting strong outcomes together with plans to spin off its cement enterprise to Taiheiyo Cement Corp.
Other points gained on particular person news, with bicycle components maker Shimano leaping 5.1 %, after asserting strong earnings for the January-September interval.
Similarly, biotechnology agency Takara Bio jumped 6.3 %, after upwardly revising its earnings outlook for the April-September interval on sturdy gross sales of its antigen testing kits.
But know-how points capped beneficial properties, dragged down by U.S. bellwethers’ worse-than-expected earnings.
“Tokyo Electron and others seem to have been affected by Alphabet and Microsoft,” Otsuka stated. “If hyper-growth stocks are still adjusting, the negative difference in high-tech stocks may well affect the Nikkei share average.”
Heavily-weighted chipmaking tools maker Tokyo Electron slumped 0.7 % by the shut, whereas chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corp. misplaced 2.1 % and Lasertec Corp. slipped 1.1 %.
Issues that rose outpaced people who fell by 1,218 to 547, whereas 72 ended the day unchanged.
On the Prime Market on Wednesday, 1,044.71 million shares modified palms, rising from Tuesday’s quantity of 1,040.08 million shares.
The turnover on the third buying and selling day of the week got here to 2,707.06 billion yen (18.36 billion U.S. {dollars}).