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Tokyo’s Nikkei rises for fourth straight session
TOKYO, April 16, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei index rose for a
fourth consecutive session on Tuesday as gains in blue-chip shares helped
erase early losses.
The Nikkei 225 index, which jumped 1.37 percent the previous day, added
0.24 percent, or 52.55 points, to close at 22,221.66, but the broader Topix
index was down 0.09 percent, or 1.47 points, at 1,626.46.
Tokyo shares opened lower with investors turning cautious after modest
drops on Wall Street following mixed results from major banks.
But the Nikkei index closed in positive territory as “investors broadly
bought back blue-chip shares,” said Shinichi Yamamoto, broker at Okasan
Securities in Tokyo.
“Although some investors are trying to lock in profits, market sentiment
remains solid,” he added.
In Tokyo trade in individual stocks, NTT Docomo jumped 3.55 percent to
2,386.5 yen after the nation’s top mobile operator said it would cut data
fees by 40 percent.
Other major carriers were also up, with KDDI up 5.84 percent at 2,524.5 yen
and SoftBank up 3.05 percent at 1,334 yen.
“The market had been worried about a possible price war breaking out among
the carriers,” said Seiichi Suzuki, senior market analyst at Tokai Tokyo
Research Centre.
“But NTT Docomo came up with roughly the same offer as KDDI’s, which
indicated it wouldn’t intend to wage a price war,” he told AFP. “Worries have
been erased for now.”
On the contrary, selling hit Rakuten, an online retailing group which
entered the mobile market recently. It lost 0.83 percent to 1,064 yen.
The dollar was trading at 111.92 yen in Asian afternoon trade against
112.03 yen in New York Monday afternoon.
BSS/AFP/SR/2045 HRS