Japan shares record longest winning streak in two and a half years

Japan’s Nikkei index rose for the ninth consecutive session on Friday, in the longest streak of consecutive gains since September 2019 as investors bought back cheap stocks even after the recent rally pushed traders to book profits.

The Nikkei index changed direction, rising 0.14 percent to 28,149.84 points, bringing the index up 4.93 percent this week.

The broader Topix index settled at 1981.47 points, but posted a weekly gain of 3.78 percent.

And Tokyo Electron, a chip equipment maker, gained 0.63 percent.

Shares of Shionoji Corp. jumped 4.49 percent after the pharmaceutical company signed an agreement with the Japanese government to provide it with an oral treatment for COVID-19 that the company is currently developing.

On the other hand, the shares of Softbank Group for Technology Investment and the KDDI phone company fell 0.25 percent and 1.85 percent, respectively.