Nikkei rose to the highest level in 4 weeks

Japan’s Nikkei index rose on Monday to a four-week high, amid an improvement in investor sentiment on the back of calm in the bond market after the Bank of Japan’s sudden policy adjustment and optimism over slowing inflation in the United States.

The results of some companies led to an increase in their shares, and the share of Toyota Tsusho Logistics Services, affiliated to the Toyota Group, increased nearly ten percent, which helped to advance the auto sector.

The Nikkei index rose 1.26 percent to 33,172.22 points, and it had risen as much as 2 percent earlier in the session. The broader Topix index rose 1.39 percent to 2,322.56 points.

Of the 225 stocks on the Nikkei index, 191 rose and 34 fell.

On Friday, the Bank of Japan kept its stimulus measures unchanged, but announced that it would carry out bond purchases at 1% instead of the official ceiling of 0.5% as it controls the yield curve.

Japanese government bond yields rose to their highest level in nine years at 0.605 percent to start trading on Monday, but did not rise from that after the central bank conducted additional purchases to slow its rise.

Japanese stocks also received a boost from a rally on Wall Street on Friday, after data showed inflation in the United States rose at the slowest pace since early 2021.

The precision machinery sector was the best performer among the 33 sectors on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Monday, up 3 percent, followed by the transportation equipment sector, up 2.83 percent.

On the other hand, Sumitomo Pharma fell more than ten percent after the disappointing results of its trials to treat schizophrenia, and the robotics maker Fanuc lost 7.27 percent after modest results.