Nikkei Soars 4% on Pension Fund Allocation Hopes

Hiruki Nakamura
20 Oct, 2014
New York City

Nikkie surged on speculation that the nation

[R]4:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo surged on the speculation that the nation’s pension fund of $1.2 trillion is set to double its allocation to stocks to 25%. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries rolled out its region jet, the first plane made in Japan. Resona Holdings and consortium reached the second stage of bidding for consumer banking business of Citigroup.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo soared following rebound in global markets and a report that the pension fund will boost allocation to domestic stocks.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average soared 578.72 or 4% to 15,111.23 and the broader Topix index climbed 47.12 or 4% to 1,224.34.

The yen closed at 107.11 against one dollar.

Stocks in Review

Benesse Holdings Inc climbed 3.5% to 3,355 yen after the education service provider plans to acquire Minerva Intelligence Co. for undisclosed amount.

Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp, the subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. rolled out the delayed twin-engine Mitsubishi Regional Jet at a plant on Saturday. The first homemade passenger jet plane launch was delayed three times.

The company said first flight is scheduled in the next year.

NEC Corp surged 6.5% to 345 after the Nikkei newspaper reported outsourcing and cloud service provider operating profit may climbed fifty-fold in the first-half to 20 billion yen compared to 379 million yen a year ago period.

Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd jumped 3% to 1,407.50 yen after the non-ferrous metal explorer decided to discontinue the production of zinc at Harima Smelter, Hyogo.

Resona Holdings Inc soared 6.2% to 589.90 yen after the financial services provider led consortium progressed to the second stage in the bidding for Japanese consumer-banking business of the U.S.-based Citigroup.