Japan’s Nikkei 225 hits 31-year high

SYDNEY, NSW, Australia – There is no stopping the rally in stocks in Japan at present. Despite the slashing of forecasts for third quarter growth, halving previous quarters, the key Nikkei 225 index soared to a 31-year high.

The Nikkei 225 jumped 222.73 points or 0.73% to 30,670.10, its highest level since August 1990. The broader Topix jumped 1.01% to 2,118.87.

“The difference between today and yesterday is that today’s gain is led by a rebound of U.S. stocks,” Seiichi Suzuki, chief equity market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute told Thomson Reuters Tuesday.

“When economically sensitive (cyclical) stocks lead the U.S. market, that works favourably to the Japanese market because Japan has no big growth shares equivalent to GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon), so the market can’t take advantage of their gains.”

The Australian All Ordinaries added 14.20 points or 0.18 percent to 7,740.30.

In China, the Shanghai Composite went against the trend, falling 52.77 points or 1.42 percent to 3,662.00

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 311.58 points or 1.21 percent to close Tuesday at 25,502.23.

The U.S. dollar was little changed. The euro traded at 1.1817 around the Sydney close Tuesday. The Japanese yen was changing hands at 110.05. The Swiss franc was soft at 0.9212.

The Canadian dollar edged down to 1.2659. The Australian dollar was slightly lower at 0.7339. The New Zealand dollar was steady at 0.7114.

Overnight on Wall Street, according to Business Sun, the Dow Jones industrials surged 261.91 points or 0.76 percent to close Monday at 34,869.63.

The Standard and Poor’s 500 added 10.15 points or 0.23 percent to 4,068.33.

The Nasdaq Composite dropped 9.91 points or 0.07 percent to 15,105.58.