By the way,I guess congrats are in order for those that are KYO shareholders.
See bold below.
Wall Street, yen intervention boost Tokyo stocks
12/24/1999
Agence France-Presse
(Copyright 1999)
TOKYO, Dec 24 (AFP) - Share prices in Tokyo rose 0.7 percent Friday following record highs on Wall Street and Bank of Japan intervention to weaken the yen against the dollar, brokers said.
The Nikkei average of 225 selected issues rose 123.02 points from Wednesday to finish at 18,584.95, closing above 18,500 for the first time in 12 sessions. The market was closed on Thursday for a public holiday.
"Share prices made big gains in the afternoon session on the yen's depreciation," said Kazue Mayuzumi, a senior market analyst at Nikko Securities.
"But they were pushed back toward the close by profit-taking for position adjustment ahead of the weekend and the year-end," Mayuzumi said.
Buying focused on information and technology issues following record-breaking rallies on Wall Street, particularly a new high in the technology-heavy Nasdaq index, brokers said.
Export-led issues, including electricals, were boosted by the central bank's midday intervention which sent the yen below 103.00 to the dollar at one point from a morning high of 101.80, brokers said.
The Topix index of all issues on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange gained 19.35 points to 1,670.65.
Turnover on the major board totalled 464.00 million shares, against Wednesday's 434.61 million shares.
"The market is upbeat following a record high on Wall Street," said Yamatane Securities broker Koichi Kawata.
"Market sentiment is improving considerably as good news overwhelms bad news," he said, adding that investors might try 19,000 points on the Nikkei by the end of the year.
Nikko's Mayuzumi also predicted that bullish share prices abroad, especially in Germany and the United States, might bolster the Tokyo market as the end of the year approaches.
"But the market's upside is pressured by worries over the year 2000 (computer) problems," he said, saying that the Nikkei average may rise no higher than 18,900 for the time being.
Despite the rises, declining issues narrowly outnumbered losers by 604 to 580 while 162 other issues closed unchanged.
Kyocera Corp. jumped 2,000 yen or 11.5 percent to 19,350 after it announced plans to take over US firm Qualcomm Inc's global wireless mobile telephone business, reportedly for one billion dollars.
In the afternoon session Kyocera was bid only, meaning there were no sellers to be found.
Consumer electronics also advanced with Sharp Corp. up 170 yen or 7.3 percent to 2,490 on strong demand for its liquid crystal displays and other components. Sony Corp. rose 1,710 yen or 7.4 percent to 24,800 yen. |
