Japan Stocks surge on easing coronavirus pandemic fears

Japan share market closed higher on Friday, 08 May 2020, as risk sentiment improved on tracking rallies on Wall Street overnight and a slowing in the number of patients infected with coronavirus in Japan. Meanwhile, decisions by some countries to ease lockdowns and Japan's government approval of the anti-viral drug remdesivir for patients of the COVID-19 respiratory disease also continued to support the Tokyo market. At closing bell, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average surged 458.42 points, or 2.33%, to 20,133.19. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange added 29.09 points, or 2.04%, at 1,455.82.

Total 32 issues of 33 industry category of Topix index were in positive territory, with Iron & Steel, Nonferrous Metals, Marine Transportation, Land Transportation, Wholesale Trade, Real Estate, and Securities & Commodities Futures issues being notable gainers.

 

Shares of blue-chip exporters were generally higher, with industrial robot maker Fanuc, Sony Corp, and chip-testing equipment maker Advantest were up in between 1% to 2%.

Nintendo dropped on profit-taking after the Japanese gaming giant said it had notched up annual net profits of 258.6 billion yen ($2.4 billion) in the fiscal year to March, a gain of 33% from the year before.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Japan Services PMI Plummets To Record Low In April- Japan services sector continued to contract in April with a record-low services PMI score of 21.5, the latest survey from Jibun Bank revealed on Friday. That's down sharply from 33.8 in March and it moves further beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. Measures to stem the Covid-19 outbreak have led to a collapse in demand as the index for services output fell at the fastest rate in series history. Business confidence fell to its lowest reading since the global financial crisis. Overall, businesses expect activity to decline over the next 12 months, with uncertainty over the timing of an economic recovery weighing on sentiment. The survey also showed that its composite index sank to a reading of 25.8 in April from 36.2 in March.

Japan's household spending plunges in March -Japan's household spending plunged 6% from a year earlier in March 2020, following a 0.3% fall in the previous month and compared to expectations of a 6.7% drop. It was the sixth consecutive decline, as consumers cut purchases sharply in response to the pandemic. Spending declined steeply for clothing & footwear (-26.1% vs -7.7% in February), culture & recreation (-20.6% vs -4%), and education (-17.4% vs -5.6%). Also, food expenditures declined 2.4% after rising 4.2%. In contrast, spending rose for housing (1.8% vs 1.7%) and fuel, light & water charges (1% vs -6%)

CURRENCY: The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 99.701 after slipping from levels above 100 seen earlier this week. The Japanese yen traded at 106.35 per dollar after strengthening from levels around 107 seen earlier in the trading week.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News