Japanese shares rise, with the Nikkei 225 Stock Average set for its first gain in two weeks, after a rally on Wall Street boosted demand for riskier assets, lifting exporters such as Tokyo Electron and Toyota Motor.
Topix Index rose 1.9% to 2,749.59 as of 9:26 a.m. Tokyo time
Nikkei 225 advanced 2.2% to 38,490.74
Tech firms and automakers provided the biggest boosts to the Topix as the yen weakened against the dollar after US inflation data backed speculation the Federal Reserve will move toward cutting interest rates in September. The core personal consumption expenditures price index rose at a tame pace in June.
The market is likely to rise on the back of a calmer PCE index, Shoji Hirakawa, chief global strategist at Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Lab. The Fed may signal a rate cut in September, which would be supportive for stocks, he said.
Technical indicators signal Japan’s stock market may be bottoming out. Both the Topix and Nikkei 225 rebounded after their Relative-Strength-Index readings dropped to about 30, a level that signals an asset is oversold.
Shin-Etsu Chemical contributed the most to the Topix’s gain, increasing 5.9%. Out of 2,135 stocks in the index, 1,966 rose and 110 fell, while 59 were unchanged.
Source : Bloomberg
