The main index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nikkei, rose 0.66% in the session on Tuesday, encouraged by the benefits of the weakness of the yen, which inflates competitiveness and sales of Japanese companies abroad.
The Nikkei, which brings together the 225 most representative titles on the market, advanced 178.20 points, to 27,049.47 integers. The broader selective Topix, which includes the firms in the main section, those with the largest capitalization, added 1.06% or 19.96 points, to stand at 1,907.38 units. The Tokyo trading floor experienced a volatile day in which investors were torn between taking profits after recent gains (close to a cumulative 3% in the last three days) and risk appetite due to the incentives provided by the current weakness of the yen against other currencies.
Although the pronounced devaluation of the yen generates concern due to its resulting increase in the cost of imports, this trend also causes a substantial increase in remittances from Japanese exporters when it comes to repatriating their profits. The Nikkei entered the mid-session in negative territory, but investors got carried away in the second half and the Japanese stock market posted its fourth day higher. The mining sector reaped the biggest advances of the day, along with real estate and crude oil and coal.
Semiconductor analysis equipment maker Lasertec accounted for the largest trading volume, rising 0.98%.
The automotive company Toyota advanced 2.16% and the textile firm Fast Retailing, owner of the Uniqlo clothing store chain, rose 0.71%. The rise of 7.21% of the electricity company Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) stood out.
Among the companies that posted losses was the telecommunications and investment group Softbank, which fell 0.07%. In the main section, 1,498 companies rose against 292 that fell, while 48 closed unchanged.
The trading volume amounted to 2.81 trillion yen (about 19.57 billion euros).