Japan’s Topix Index Reaches a 3-Decade High

Japanese stocks rebounded in late trading, pushing the Topix index to a three-decade peak Monday, September 13th, buoyed by optimism surrounding the country’s prime minister change and a drop in COVID-19 infections.

The Topix index recorded a rise in the last 30 minutes of trading and ended the session with a rise of 0.29% to 2097.71 points, the highest closing since 1990. This contributed to its continuation of a strong rise for three weeks of 11%.

The Nikkei index rose 0.22% to 30,447.37 points, its highest closing level in nearly seven months.

The gains come despite the weakness of global stocks as a whole. An index of shares in the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan fell 1%, in line with Wall Street’s decline on Friday.

Iron and steel sector was the best performer on Topix, followed by oil and coal producers, adding 1.56% and 1.48%, respectively, with higher commodity prices.