Tokyo markets in substantial gains

The Tokyo equities markets saw big gains on Thursday, mostly after comments out of the United States that US inflation would likely not continue to rise. The Nikkei 225 added 3.1 percent to 14,946.84, while the Topix index was up 3.6 percent to 1,528.59. Meanwhile, the Mother’s index of small and mid-caps gained 7.1 percent to 1,225.43. Gains were seen in both domestic and export-focused sectors.

Securities, banks, and non-bank consumer finance sectors all saw substantial gains. The consumer finance sector added 6.1 percent as a whole, with Aiful up 5.3 percent to ¥5,000, while Promise was 5.7 percent higher to ¥5,720 and Sanyo Shinpan gained 6 percent to ¥5,470.

In the securities sector, Nomura added 5.1 percent to ¥2,065, Mizuho Trust advanced by 6.1 percent to ¥278, Nikko Cordial gained 6.9 percent to ¥1,338, and Daiwa Securities was up 7.8 percent to ¥1,333.

Among banks, Mizuho gained 3.6 percent to ¥961,000, while Sumitomo Mitsui added 4.2 percent to ¥1,250,000, Resona advanced by 5.5 percent to ¥362,000, and Bank of Yokohama was up 6.4 percent to ¥925.

Japan Airlines turned around its series of losses to add 6.8 percent to ¥235. The advance came after it priced new shares at ¥211, a move which seemed to spur investors to put a bit more confidence in JAL’s new share offering.

Electronics and carmakers also saw gains on the session. Canon reversed early week losses to advance by 3 percent to ¥5,400, while Sony was up 3.4 percent to ¥4,830. Matsushita Electric Industrial added 4.8 percent to ¥2,200.

In the automobile manufacturing sector, Toyota was up 3.2 percent to ¥5,800 and Honda added 4.6 percent to ¥3,640.

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