Nikkei in Tokyo Jumps 0.8%

Hiruki Nakamura
17 Oct, 2013
New York City

Markets indexes in Tokyo closed higher and the yen weakened. The last minute political agreement avoided U.S. debt default as the latest crisis may resurface in late January.

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Markets indexes in Tokyo closed higher and the yen weakened. The last minute political agreement avoided U.S. debt default as the latest crisis may resurface in late January.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo traded higher and markets in Asia closed mixed after the U.S. averted a debt default with a last minute agreement.

World investors were shocked after fractured political process in the U.S. closed the government for sixteen days and pushed the debt ceiling agreement until the last minute.

The latest agreement only pushes the crisis to the end of January. The government has been funded to operate till mid-January and spending has been authorized to the first week in February.

The U.S., the largest economy in the world with the reserve currency, is increasingly viewed with skepticism by global investors and many large institutions in China, Japan and Asia have begun a search to replace dollar denominated assets in their portfolios.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average jumped 119.37 or 0.8% to 14,586.51 and the Topix increased 9.47 to 1,206.25.

The yen increased to 98.55 against one dollar.

Stocks in Review

Toyota Motor Corp slid 20 yen to 6,340 yen and Honda Motor Co. jumped 45 yen to 3,950 yen. Nissan Motor Co Ltd climbed 22 yen to 1,022 yen.

Sony gained 4 yen to 1,938 yen.

Softbank Corp dropped 100 yen to 7,300 yen. Fast Retailing Co. increased 300 yen to 34,150 yen.

Fujitsu Limited soared 5.7% to 409 yen after Goldman Sachs lifted ratings from “sell” to “buy.”

The Kansai Electric Power Company, Inc climbed 2.8% to 1,327 yen after the electric utility provider lifted its forecast for the first-half ending in September and estimated operating revenue to increase 1.9% to 1,610 billion yen compared to 1,580 billion yen from previous forecast.

Net swung to a profit 15 billion yen from earlier guidance of a loss of 32 billion yen.

Sharp Corporation declined 3% to 290 yen and Deutsche Bank reaffirmed its “sell” rating on the stock.