Nikkei ends week higher in monetary tightening environment

Japanese stocks rose on Friday, extending gains from the previous day, even as investors digested the hawkish rhetoric of policymakers that strongly supported expectations of big interest rate hikes to curb inflation.

The Nikkei index closed up 0.53 percent to 28,214.75 points. The benchmark index started trading up 0.5 percent and remained above the psychological barrier of 28 thousand throughout the day.

Overall, the Nikkei is up 2.04 percent this week, mostly due to a 2.315 percent gain on Thursday.

The broader Topix index rose 0.40 percent to end the week up 1.83 percent.

Among the 225 stocks on the Nikkei, 176 recorded gains, 46 fell, and three were stable during Friday’s trading.

All sectors rose on the Nikkei in general, and the healthcare sector was one of the best performers, after the strong performance on Wall Street last night.

Online healthcare company M3 Inc rose 2.74 percent and became the second largest contributor to support the index after Tokyo Electron Semiconductor.

Daikin Industries Air Conditioning was the most pressured on the index, as the stock fell 0.9 percent.

Passenger carriers were among the worst performers. Shares of East Japan Railway Company incurred the largest single loss, which amounted to 1.18 percent, while shares of Central Japan Railways and ANA Aviation fell 0.98 percent.