Monday's Asian Stocks: Japan Stocks Rise as Hashimoto Resigns
Japanese stocks rose and other Asian stocks fell as Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto resigned to take responsibility for his Liberal Democratic Party's rout in yesterday's election. Top banks like Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd., automakers such as Toyota Corp. and retailers, which could benefit if the government is now forced to cut taxes, paced the gains. Benchmark indexes fell in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, the Philippines and Australia. ''The market is telling you that it sees this as a positive change,'' said John Alkire, managing director at Morgan Stanley Asset & Investment Trust Management Co., which handles $6 billion in Japanese equities. ''(But) we have a number of very critical issues to solve...and if we don't have someone picking the ball up and carrying it forward, it could become chaos again.'' The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index gained 270.33 points, or 1.68 percent, to 16,360.39. The broader Topix index of all companies listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange added 14.94 points, or 1.20 percent, to 1,256.44. |
