The Tokyo Stock Exchange (TYO) has experienced a marginal three-day streak so far this week, driven by positive sentiments among Japanese companies. The data comes in the release of the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) Tankan quarterly business survey, which offers an overview of corporate movements, investor sentiments and business outlooks on the TYO. The Nikkei 225 index closed at 32,926.35, up 0.25%, while the broader Topix index saw a 0.07% increase, finishing at 2,354.92.
Japanese stocks see incline as inflation data softens
Machinery and precision instrument stocks led the minor increase in the market as the US dollar briefly climbed to the 146-yen mark in Tokyo. Investor response to the Tankan survey indicates that the latest US inflation data might not be enough to spur the US Federal Reserve to initiate interest rate reductions soon, much to investors’ discontent.
Initial gains in Tokyo stocks were attributed to positive Wall Street performance following the release of the US Consumer Price Index data meeting expectations earlier this week. Despite these positive factors, momentum is slowing as investors await the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting announcement later today. The Nikkei closed Tuesday 12th December below the 33,000-threshold due to subdued buying activity and profit-taking by investors.
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Chip-related stocks, however, provided a small surge, with manufacturing companies such as Advantest (ATEYY) jumping 5.6% to 4,629 yen and Tokyo Electron (TOELY) rising 4.7% to 24,445 yen. East Japan Railway and Central Japan Railway have also experienced gains of 1.2% each this week.
Conversely, energy sector stocks declined as the US benchmark oil futures contract hit a roughly five-month low.
