Japanese shares edge up as FOMO keeps rally alive

Hoya

17/09/2021 04:16

TOKYO, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Japanese equities headed for
their fourth straight week of gains, with heavyweight chipmakers
driving gains on Friday, as investors gripped by the
fear-of-missing-out, or FOMO, bet on the major indexes extending
their rally.
    Hopes for new leadership, rising COVID-19 vaccinations and
easing infections have powered a more than 8% jump in the Nikkei
share average  .N225  for the month so far. The rally cooled off
in the past two sessions, but the benchmark is still on track
for a 0.34% weekly gain.
    It added 0.46% to 30,463.54 by 0217 GMT on Friday. The
broader Topix  .TOPX  gained 0.30% to 2,096.31.
    "Shares rose because some investors wanted to boost
weightings of Japanese stocks in their portfolio. And there is a
demand from those who failed to buy Japanese stocks in a rally
earlier this month," said Jun Morita, general manager of the
research department at Chibagin Asset Management. 
    Medical services platform provider M3  2413.T  led the
Nikkei's gain with a 4.5% rise, followed by chip-related stocks
Tokyo Electron  8035.T  and Advantest  6857.T , which rose 1.42%
and 2.26%, respectively.
    Shipping firms  .ISHIP.T  were the top gainers among the
Tokyo Stock Exchange's 33 industry subindexes, with Nippon Yusen
  9101.T  jumping 2.68% and Kawasaki Kisen  9107.T  rising
2.74%. 
    Drug maker Daiichi Sankyo  4568.T  gained the most among the
top 30 core Topix names, with a 2.78% rise, followed by
Shin-Etsu Chemical  4063.T , also chip-related, rising 1.64%. 
    On the flipside, Nippon Steel  5401.T  tumbled 6.16% after
the steel maker priced https://www.nipponsteel.com/common/secure/en/news/20210917_100.pdf
 its 300 billion yen ($2.73 billion) worth of convertible bonds.
Its peers Kobe Steel  5406.T  and JFE Holdings  5411.T  lost
3.52% and 2.34%, respectively. 
    Mitsui & Co Ltd  8031.T , down 1.58%, was the worst
performer among the Topix 30, followed by Hoya  7741.T , losing
1.39%.
    
  
($1 = 109.8800 yen)

 (Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
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