Japan's Nikkei notches fourth weekly gain as weaker yen lifts exporters

Daikin Industries

24/11/2023 06:52

(Updated at 0630 GMT)
    By Kevin Buckland
       TOKYO, Nov 24 (Reuters) - 
    Japan's Nikkei share average stopped short of a fresh
three-decade high on Friday, although it posted a fourth
straight weekly gain as a weaker yen buoyed exporters' stocks.
  
    The Nikkei  .N225  ended up 0.5%, with a 0.12% gain for the
week. It is up nearly 9% this month.
    The broader Topix  .TOPX  rose 0.54% on Friday. 
    The benchmark index on Monday scaled a post-1990 peak of
33,853.46, before sharply reversing course as investors locked
in profit.
    There were 164 advancers on the Nikkei index against 61
decliners among its 225 components.
    The yen traded flat at 149.25 per dollar  JPY=EBS , hovering
around the same level for a third day. The unit strengthened on
Tuesday to a more than two-month high of 147.155 as expectations
for a more dovish Federal Reserve undercut the U.S. currency.
    A weaker yen increases the value of Japan's overseas sales
when repatriated.
    There were strong expectations for the yen to strengthen to
145 per dollar, but that speculation has come out of the market
now, boosting automakers and other exporters, said Kazuo
Kamitani, an equity strategist at Nomura Securities.
    "The overheatedness has come out of the market, which means
we can expect the Nikkei to set new highs next week."
    The stocks that gained the most among the top 30 core Topix
names were Toyota Motor Corp  7203.T , up 2.73%, followed by
Recruit Holdings Co Ltd  6098.T . 
    The underperformers among the Topix 30 were Daikin
Industries Ltd  6367.T  down 2.4%, followed by Sony Group Corp
 6758.T  losing 1.27%.
    Startup investor SoftBank Group  9984.T  added 0.48%, buoyed
by a more than 5% rally in one of its key holdings - chip
designer ARM  ARM.O .
    Japanese stocks received foreign inflows for a third week in
the week ended Nov. 17, driven by domestic companies' strong
earnings and easing worries about higher U.S. interest rates
following softer inflation data.


    

 (Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Sohini Goswami)
 ((Kevin.Buckland@thomsonreuters.com;))