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Tokyo hits year high
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June 29, 1999: 6:38 a.m. ET
Nikkei jumps 172 points as investors follow Wall Street rise, ignore rate fears
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LONDON LONDON (CNNfn) - Tokyo blue chips leapt to their highest close of the year Tuesday as most other markets in the region enjoyed a mildly positive session, bolstered by an unexpectedly strong showing on Wall Street.
The Nikkei 225 index rose 172.21 points to end at 17,782.79, a rise of 0.98 percent as strong institutional buying negated the impact of worse-than-expected industrial production figures for May. Preliminary figures showed output fell by 0.7 percent against expectations of a rise of 0.9 percent.
Bullish sentiment from overseas investment houses in Japan helped buoy the influx of funds, as Goldman Sachs Japan raised its forecast for the Nikkei 225 to 19,000 from 18,000 Monday.
Investors also took their cue from the gains on Wall Street where the Dow Jones industrial average rose 102.59 points, or nearly 1 percent, to close at 10,655.15. Tech stocks fared even better as the Nasdaq Composite rose 49.80 points, or 1.95 percent, to 2,602.45, while the S&P 500 index gained 16.04, or 1.2 percent, to 1,331.35.
The U.S. gains helped calm fears of a bigger-than-expected rate rise by the Federal Reserve on Thursday. Markets have factored in a rise of a quarter of one percent.
Export- and tech-related stocks were the main focus of buyers. Sony Corp. surged 3.9 percent to 13,070 yen, while Fujitsu soared 5.82 percent to 2,455. Telecom giant NTT jumped almost 3 percent to 875 yen. Among auto makers, Mazda Motor was the star performer, rallying almost 7.3 percent to end at 724 yen after the car maker said it was cutting the number of steel suppliers from six to two..
Hong Kong blue chips, in contrast, ended the session down 0.54 percent, or 74.80 points, with the Hang Seng closing at 13,765.49. A fall of just over 1 percent by index heavyweight HSBC, which ended at HK$286, weighed on the market. Traders said the selling was sparked by concern over the bank's plans to invest in Korea's Seoulbank.
A successful, but small government land sale - only the second one in over a year - had little impact on property shares, with the news anticipated during the sector's rally Monday.
Singapore blue chips were comfortably in the black with the Straits Times index up 12.84 points, or 0.81 percent, at 2,163.66.
South Korea's Kospi closed down 0.62 percent at 903.05.45, after a strong rally Monday on a rosy growth forecast from the International Monetary Fund.
The All Ordinaries index in Sydney ended flat, up just 1 point at 2,990.3, with any boost from Wall Street's rally canceled out by a selloff in mining stocks, following a strong rally in the sector Monday.
Earlier, Taiwan's Weighted index surged just over 2.8 percent to 8,281.45, a rally of 232.82, while Philippine blue chips rose almost 1 percent to end up 22.52 points at 2,462.05.
Kuala Lumpur's Composite closed up 1.1 percent at 820.71 while Jakarta's blue chips rose 1.18 percent to 680.04.
Bangkok's Set index, however, lost 2.68 percent to 531.88.
-- from staff and wire reports
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