BANGKOK — Japan’s Nikkei 225 share index closed at an all-time high on Thursday, bypassing its previous record set in December 1989.
After logging an intraday high of 39,156.97, the index closed up 2.1% to 39,098.68. The Nikkei 225’s
JP:NIK
previous record was 38,915.87, just before Japan’s bubble economy collapsed in the early 1990s.
Japanese shares have logged sharp gains in recent months, helped by strong interest from foreign investors who account for the majority of trading volume on the Tokyo exchange. Year-to-date, the index has gained 16%.
The weakness of the Japanese yen against the U.S. dollar has also attracted investments, despite the prolonged weakness in the economy, which slipped back into a technical recession late last year
Elsewhere in Asia, shares were mixed.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng
HK:HSI
rose 0.6% and the Shanghai Composite index
CN:SHCOMP
edged 0.7% higher.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200
AU:XJO
was flat, while the Kospi
KR:180721
in Seoul added 0.4%.
Taiwan’s benchmark Taiex index
TW:Y9999
hit an all-time intraday high of 18,881.77, as shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
2330,
were lifted by Nvidia’s blockbuster earnings.
On Wednesday, stocks ended mostly higher on Wall Street after a listless day of trading with big technology stocks again acting as a heavy weight on the market.
The S&P 500
SPX
rose 0.1% to 4,981.80. The benchmark index spent much of the day in losing territory before climbing higher just before markets closed.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA
also eked out a slight gain after losing ground most of the day. It rose 0.1%, to 38,612.24.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite
COMP
fell 0.3%, to 15,580.87.
Bond yields gained ground. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.33% from 4.28% late Tuesday.
The Federal Reserve released minutes from its latest meeting in January that showed most officials are worried about moving too fast to cut their benchmark interest. The central bank left the rate alone for the fourth time in a row at that meeting. Investors have all but lost hope that the central bank will cut rates at its March meeting and are looking for the first rate cut to come in June.
In other trading Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude oil
CLJ24,
gained 8 cents to $77.99 a barrel. Brent crude
BRNJ24,
the international standard, rose 6 cents to $83.09 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar
USDJPY,
was trading at 150.32 Japanese yen, up from 150.04 yen.
MarketWatch contributed to this report
