Wednesday January 20, 2:30 am Eastern Time
Nikkei ends above 14,000 on banks, chips, realtors
By Hiroko Nakata
TOKYO, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei average staged a rally and closed above the key 14,000
point level on Wednesday, led by gains in banks, realtors and semiconductor-related companies, traders said.
The stock average finished above 14,000 for the first time since December 21, 1998.
Banks gained ground, as expectations of a bigger amount of public fund injections into banks were fuelled by news that troubled Mitsui Trust & Banking Co
and Chuo Trust & Banking Co would start merger discussions. Other media reports about alliances among banks also sparked the expectations, traders said.
''It looks like banks are trying to gear up restructuring so that they can request more public funds,'' said a senior broker at a Japanese securities house.
The Nikkei 225 average was up 257.61 points or 1.87 percent at 14,028.05. Nikkei March futures were 160 higher at 13,980.
Mitsui Trust topped the list of heavily traded issues on the first sectionednesday that they had agreed to study a broad business alliance.
Japanese news agency Jiji reported on Wednesday that Fuji Bank was considering making Yasuda Trust & Banking Co Ltd its subsidiary, although Fuji Bank
said that it had not yet reached a decision. |
