TOKYO stocks jumped in opening trade on Thursday, taking a strong lead from Wall Street, which rose on upbeat economic data and the Federal Reserve chief's renewed commitment to loose monetary policy.
The Nikkei 225 index was up 1.45 per cent, or 162.89 points, to 11,416.86 in the first 20 minutes of trading.
The market was winning support from a weak yen and Fed chief Ben Bernanke's comments this week that the central bank would keep its monetary easing program in place until economic conditions improve, said Kenichi Hirano, market analyst at Tachibana Securities.
Tokyo's early rise also came as the government was set nominate the next governor of the Bank of Japan and his two deputies later on Wednesday, with Asian Development Bank chief Haruhiko Kuroda widely tipped to get the top job.
Kuroda is known as an advocate of loosening monetary policy to overcome slow growth, a stance that tends to win the support of investors and weaken the yen, which helps stocks by making exporters more competitive.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached its highest level in more than five years on Wednesday, boosted by Bernanke's comments and strong reports on the US housing market and orders for durable goods, which include long-lasting products such as cars and home appliances.
The blue-chip index rose 1.26 per cent to 14,075.37, its best finish since October 12, 2007.
In early Tokyo forex trading, the dollar was at 92.33 yen compared with 92.16 yen in New York on Wednesday afternoon.
"The Nikkei continues to take cues from the dollar/yen movements," Hirano told Dow Jones Newswires.
The euro bought $1.3147 and 121.34 yen, up from $1.3136 and 121.07 yen in US trade, as the common European currency gained ground following better-than-expected bond auctions in Italy.
Inconclusive national elections in the debt-hit nation had stoked fresh fears about eurozone stability.
Markets reacted little to government data that showed Japanese factory output for January rose a smaller-than-expected 1.0 per cent on-month.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét