Japan's Nikkei index jumps 4.5 percent
By TOMOKO A. HOSAKA
Associated Press Writer
(AP:TOKYO) Japan stocks rose sharply Thursday, with the benchmark index soaring 4.5 percent, as investors returning from holidays cheered better-than-expected news about U.S. jobs and banks.
The Nikkei 225 stock average soared more than 400 points to 9,379.02 _ a new intraday high for the year _ in the first day of trading after the country's "Golden Week" holidays.
Bullish sentiment surged through Japanese financial markets after better-than-expected U.S. jobs data overnight as well as relief over bank balance sheets.
Washington is set to formally release results of government "stress tests" of banks, but media reports Wednesday suggested that America's biggest banks may not be as ailing as initially feared.
In addition, an unofficial reading on unemployment showed private employers slashed far fewer jobs in April than in March. The ADP National Employment Report said that private sector employment fell by 491,000 last month, a huge improvement from the 708,000 jobs lost in March.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.2 percent Wednesday.
In Tokyo, optimistic investors poured into financial issues.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan's biggest bank, shot up 12.4 percent to 594 yen, despite warning Friday that it would post a 260 billion yen ($2.6 billion) group net loss for last fiscal year ended March 31.
Credit Suisse maintained its highest "outperform" rating on the issue, saying the estimate still beats analyst expectations as well as the bank's competitors.
"This is the smallest loss of the three mega banks, and we believe it should be a relatively positive incentive for the share prices," said Credit Suisse banking analyst Shinichi Ina in Tokyo.
Mizuho Financial Group Inc. advanced 11.1 percent to 230 yen. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc rose 10.6 percent to 3,860 yen after announcing Friday that it will buy Citigroup's Japan brokerage businesses, making it Japan's first acquisition of a leading brokerage by a bank.
In currencies, the dollar held steady at 98.64 yen. The euro was trading at $1.3312 from $1.3305 late Wednesday.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. |
