Latest news with #N225
Yomiuri Shimbun
16 hours ago
- Business
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average Treads Water as Central Bank Meetings, Tariff Deadline Loom
TOKYO, July 30 (Reuters) – Japan's Nikkei share average ended morning trade flat on Wednesday after spending most of the session slightly lower, as investors braced for a three-day period that will see policy decisions from the Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan, followed by U.S. President Donald Trump's deadline for trade deals. The Nikkei .N225 entered the midday break little changed at 40,682.14. Of the index's 225 components, 148 rose and 77 fell. The broader Topix .TOPX rose 0.35%. The Fed sets rates on Wednesday, and while policymakers are widely expected to stand pat, investors will be watching closely for signs that an interest rate cut may be on the way later this year. Similarly, the BOJ is seen keeping policy steady on Thursday, but markets will search for clues on when the central bank is likely to resume rate hikes. On Friday, most U.S. trade partners that have not agreed deals with Washington will receive higher tariff rates. 'There are still a lot of uncertainties over tariffs, and that's going to limit the upside for stocks,' said Maki Sawada, an equities strategist at Nomura Securities. As a result, 'there's no particular sense of direction' in Japanese stock trading currently, she said. Airline ANA Holdings 9202.T fell 3.8% to be the Nikkei's biggest percentage decliner following its earnings report after the market closed on Tuesday. Earnings also weighed on chip-testing equipment maker Advantest 6857.T, which slipped 1.8%. Sumitomo Pharma 4506.T surged nearly 16% to be the biggest percentage gainer.
Yomiuri Shimbun
2 days ago
- Business
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average Extends Falls on Corporate Outlook Concerns
TOKYO, July 29 (Reuters) – Japan's Nikkei share average fell for a third straight session on Tuesday, as concerns over the domestic corporate outlook led investors to lock in profits from a recent rally. The Nikkei .N225 was down 0.7% at 40,728.48, as of 0151 GMT. The broader Topix .TOPX declined 0.75% to 2,908.75. In the middle of the earnings season in Japan, investors are cautious about the corporate outlook, which may be hit by a 15% tariff to be imposed on Japan's exports to the United States, said Hiroyuki Ueno, chief strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management. Last week, Japan struck a trade deal that lowers the hefty tariffs U.S. President Donald Trump had threatened to impose on goods from Japan. That sent the Nikkei to its highest level in a year last week, but the gain was too much, said Ueno. 'Half of its gains came from expectations that Prime Minister (Shigeru) Ishiba would step down, and the market hoped someone who promotes measures to stimulate the economy would replace him,' he said. Ishiba vowed to remain in his post after his ruling coalition suffered a bruising defeat in upper house elections, prompting some in his own party to doubt his leadership as the opposition weighed a no-confidence motion. On Tuesday, chip-related stocks led the decline, with Lasertec 6920.T falling 5% to become the worst performer on the Nikkei. Tokyo Electron 8035.T and Advantest6857.T slipped 0.49% and 0.33%, respectively. Nitto Denko6988.T fell 4.6% after the industrial materials maker posted a 16% decline in quarterly operating profit. All but three of the Tokyo Stock Exchange's 33 industry sub-indexes fell. The auto sector ITEQP.T lost 1.7% to become the worst performer. Bucking the trend, Nomura Research4307.T jumped 8.9% after the consulting and IT solutions provider reported a 17% rise in quarterly net profit.
Yomiuri Shimbun
23-07-2025
- Automotive
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average Soars to One-Year Peak on Trade Deal; Bonds Slide
TOKYO, July 23 (Reuters) – Japanese automakers led a surge in the Nikkei share average to a one-year peak on Wednesday, after Tokyo reached a trade deal with Washington, ending a months-long stalemate. Under the agreement, Japanese exports to the United States face a 15% levy, down from a threatened tariff of 25%. Specific duties on autos, which account for more than a quarter of Japan's U.S. exports, also fell to 15% from 25%. The Nikkei .N225 rallied 3.5% to end the day at 41,171.32, its highest close since July last year. The Tokyo Stock Exchange's transport equipment index .ITEQP.T soared nearly 11%, with Toyota Motor 7203.T surging more than 14%. The clarity on tariffs bolstered the case for the Bank of Japan to resume raising interest rates, lifting short-term Japanese government bond yields. Longer-term JGB yields also climbed, with local media reporting that embattled Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba was preparing to step down, suggesting a shift in the political landscape towards increased fiscal largesse. Ishiba has denied the reports. The 10-year yield JP10YTN=JBTC shot to the highest since 2008 at 1.6%, while a 40-year debt auction garnered the lowest demand since 2011. The yen weakened about 0.3% to 147.02 per dollar JPY=EBS after initially flipping between gains and losses. 'As long as the political situation doesn't deteriorate too much more, we suspect Japan's equity rally has further to run,' Capital Economics head of Asia Pacific markets Thomas Mathews wrote in a note. For the rates market, 'our sense is that investors are still underestimating how fast the central bank will hike this year and next,' Mathews said. Ishiba is facing growing opposition from within his Liberal Democratic Party for his vow to stay in power despite the ruling coalition's drubbing in Sunday's election, which resulted in the loss of the coalition's upper house majority. Opposition parties calling for debt-funded consumption tax cuts made big gains at the polls. The yield on 40-year JGBs JP40YTN=JBTC climbed 8.5 basis points to hit 3.46%. Thirty-year yields JP30YTN=JBTC advanced as much as 6.5 basis points to 3.15%, approaching last week's all-time high of 3.20%. Two-year yields JP2YTN=JBTC, which are more sensitive to the monetary policy outlook, jumped 8 basis points to 0.83%, the highest since April 2, when U.S. President Donald Trump shocked markets with his aggressive 'Liberation Day' tariff announcement. Expectations for tighter monetary policy also lifted the TSE's banking index .IBNKS.T by 4.4%, making it the second-biggest gainer among the bourse's 33 industry groupings. The central bank will meet on policy next week. BOJ Deputy Governor Shinichi Uchida said on Wednesday that the trade deal greatly reduces uncertainty over the economic outlook, but also warned that risks to activity and prices were skewed to the downside. 'I don't think this (trade deal) alone will lead to a Bank of Japan rate hike next week, but the possibility of a rate hike between September and October has increased,' said SMBC chief currency strategist Hirofumi Suzuki. 'However, if anything, political uncertainty is having more of an impact on the market, and the pressure for yen depreciation is likely to continue.'
Yomiuri Shimbun
23-07-2025
- Business
- Yomiuri Shimbun
GLOBAL MARKETS-Nikkei Rally Buoys Asian Shares as Trump Announces Japan Trade Deal
SYDNEY, July 23 (Reuters) – Japanese shares led an Asian share market rally on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with Japan and fueled hopes of more to come, offsetting mixed U.S. earnings that highlighted the drags from higher tariffs. Trump late on Tuesday announced a trade deal with Tokyo that he said will result in Japan investing $550 billion into the United States and paying a 15% reciprocal tariff. It followed an agreement with the Philippines that will see the U.S. collect a 19% tariff rate on imports from there. 'Though details are not yet available, it is commendable that the 25% baseline tariff was avoided,' Norihiro Yamaguchi, senior Japan economist at Oxford Economics. 'In the short run I think lowered uncertainty will be welcomed in the equity market. But global trade policy uncertainty will remain high, meaning that today's conclusion will provide little upside to the real economy.' The U.S. president also said representatives from the European Union are coming for trade negotiations on Wednesday. In another positive development, U.S. and Chinese officials will meet in Stockholm next week to discuss an extension to the August 12 deadline for negotiating a trade deal, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. Japan's Nikkei .N225 rose 1.7% on Wednesday as shares of automakers surged. Mazda Motor 7261.T rallied 12% while Toyota Motor 7203.T jumped 10%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS advanced 0.2% underpinned by higher openings in Australia .AXJO and South Korea .KS11. The yen JPY=EBS initially gained on the news, but was last flat at 146.68 per dollar. Nasdaq futures NQc1 climbed 0.1% and S&P 500 futures ESc1 gained 0.2% in Asia. Overnight, Wall Street closed mixed as investors assessed a spate of varied earnings and signs that Trump's trade war is hitting corporate profit margins. General Motors GM.N tumbled 8.1% after the automaker reported a $1 billion hit from tariffs to its quarterly results. Investors are now waiting for results from Tesla TSLA.O and Google's parent Alphabet GOOGL.O – the Magnificent 7 stocks that have driven much of the market rally fueled by AI optimism. In the foreign exchange market, the dollar =USD index was flat at 97.45 against its major peers, having slipped 0.4% overnight to mark the third straight day of declines. Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields US10YT=RR ticked up 2 basis points to 4.3579, after slipping 3 bps overnight, as Trump continued to lash out at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for not cutting interest rates, although Bessent said there was no need for him to step down immediately. Bessent did say the Fed's vital independence on monetary policy is threatened by its 'mandate creep' into non-policy areas and he called on the U.S. central bank to conduct an exhaustive review of those operations.
Yomiuri Shimbun
18-07-2025
- Business
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average Edges down, off near 2-Week High Amid Election Outcome Worries
TOKYO, July 18 (Reuters) – Japan's Nikkei share average slipped from a more than two-week high to trade lower on Friday as investors weighed the outcome of the nation's upper house election due on the weekend. The Nikkei .N225 slipped 0.31% to 39,778.85 by the midday break. Earlier, it had risen to as much as 40,087.59, its highest level since July 1, underpinned by the strong performance of Wall Street, but fell soon as investors started selling to book profits. The S&P 500 .SPX stock index and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC both finished at record highs on Thursday, as investors embraced strong economic data and earnings reports that showed American consumers remained willing to spend. .N For the week, the Nikkei is set to rise 0.5% and snap a two straight weeks of losses. The broader Topix .TOPX was down 0.13% to 2,836.1. 'Investors did not want to take a risk in buying stocks ahead of the national election on the weekend,' said Yugo Tsuboi, chief strategist at Daiwa Securities. 'But the momentum is not bad as about half the stocks rose.' Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its partner Komeito are expected to lose their majority in the upper house on Sunday. Strategists now focus on whether Ishiba will remain in his position or step down after the election, as a gauge of the nation's potential policy shift, which could lead to a cut in the national consumption tax. Chip-related heavyweight fell, with Advantest 6857.T and Tokyo Electron 8035.T losing 4.27% and 0.7%, respectively. Disco6146.T tanked 10.26% to become the biggest percentage loser on the Nikkei, as the chipmaking device supplier's quarterly operating profit forecast missed market expectations. Uniqlo-brand owner Fast Retailing 9983.T rose 0.79% to provide the biggest support to the Nikkei. Technology investor SoftBank Group 9984.T rose 1.5%. Of more than 1,600 stocks on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's prime section, 42% rose and 53% fell, and 4% traded flat.
