Tokyo, Sept. 19 (Jiji Press)–Stocks stretched gains on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Friday morning, supported by continued active buying of such issues as banks amid an ongoing global fund inflow intothe Japanese market.
“Abundant funds flowing into Japan have nowhere else to go, after investors cashed in on recent gains amid concerns over the market’s fast-pitched rise, so they are seeking every chance to buy,” said Kenichi Hirano, equity general manager at Tachibana Securities Co.
Hirano said the Japanese stock market became a main playing field of global hedge funds, which are increasing with the creation of many new ones.
The 225-issue Nikkei average finished the morning session up 46.69 points at 11,080.01. The average grew 43.21 points on Thursday.
The TOPIX index of all first-section issues stood up 2.40 points at 1,078.13. It ended up 3.16 points in the previous session.(MORE)ADD:
Gainers outpaced losers 902 to 482 on the first section in the morning, while 141 issues were flat.
Half-day volume came to 892 million shares.
The Nikkei average briefly soared to 11,160.19 after Wall Street stocks enjoyed a heady rebound on hopes of a faster pickup of the U.S. economy that grew following the announcement of brisk economic indicators.
Banks were upbeat amid a perception that their share prices still have room for further rises. They were also boosted by short covering chiefly by hedge funds.
One market concern was the yen’s appreciation versus the dollar, which put a damper on export-oriented issues like automakers, amid the absence of yen-selling intervention by Japanese monetary authorities ahead of a meeting of finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of Seven major industrial nations in Dubai on Saturday.
Toshihiko Matsuno, deputy equity general manager at SMBC Friend Securities Co., said the market keeps a close watch on the G-7 meeting to see the course of dollar-yen rates ahead but that the yen is unlikely to soar too far against the dollar after the meeting.(MORE)THIRD:
Among four megabanks, all of which scored gains, Mizuho and UFJ rewrote their year-to-date highs.
Also upbeat were drug makers like Takeda, Yamanouchi and Fujisawa.
Condominium builder Haseko jumped to its fresh high for this year supported by a positive analyst assessment on its business restructuring.
In contrast, automakers were under downward pressure including Toyota, Honda and Nissan.
Among techs, Tokyo Electron, Advantest, Sony and Fujitsu slumped.
