TOKYO – Japan’s Nikkei share average closed at an all-time high on Friday, underpinned by record gains on Wall Street overnight and strength in automakers’ stocks on a weaker yen.
The Nikkei rose 0.18% to end at 40,888.43, after hitting 41,087.75 earlier in the session to break an all-time intraday high.
The index, which crossed the 41,000 level for the first time, rose 5.68% for the week and posted 22% gain so far this year.
The broader Topix rose 0.61% to 2,813.22.
“The market had expected the yen would strengthen against the dollar in this quarter but that is not happening, which is positive for Japanese firms,” said Shuji Hosoi, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities.
“The yen remains weaker as Japanese (government bond) yields are not expected to rise sharply. The Bank of Japan said it would keep its easy policy so the gap in yields between the U.S. and Japan will not narrow.”
BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda on Thursday vowed to keep supporting the economy with ultra-loose monetary policy, in fresh comments after the central bank ended eight years of negative interest rates and other remnants of its unorthodox policy on Tuesday.
Expectations for the slow pace of the rate hike pushed the yen to a 4-month low, heightening the chance of yen-buying intervention by Japanese authorities.
A softer yen helps exporters as it increases the value of overseas revenue in yen terms when firms repatriate them to Japan.
Toyota Motor rose 1.92% to become one of the biggest boosts to the Nikkei. Suzuki Motor jumped 3.63%.
The index for automakers rose 1.72%.
Tyre makers jumped 2.41%, the most among the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s 33 industry sub-indexes.
Chip-related Advantest slipped 2.93% and Tokyo Electron inched down 0.03%.
