Japan Market extends rally to 5th day

Japan share market finished higher for the fifth straight trading session on Wednesday, 26 May 2021, as investor sentiment was encouraged by an accelerated pace of coronavirus vaccine inoculations in Japan and several Federal Reserve officials statements that any inflation will be transitory and the Fed will maintain its current dovish monetary policy stance.

At closing bell, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average advanced 88.21 points, or 0.31%, to 28,642.19. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange rose 1.15 points, or 0.06%, to 1,920.67.

Trading volume turnover in the 1st section increased to 1096 million shares from 992 million shares yesterday. Trading value turnover increased to 2413.80 billion yen from 2,203.91 billion yen yesterday.

Total 22 sub-indexes of the 33 sector sub-indexes on the Tokyo exchange were lower, with Iron & Steel, Pulp & Paper, Electric Power & Gas, Oil & Coal Products, Banks, and Marine Transportation sectors being notable losers, while Air Transportation, Land Transportation, Services, and Chemicals sectors were notable gainers.

Japan opened mass inoculation centres on Monday as it races to vaccinate most of its elderly population before the start of the Tokyo Olympics on July 23. The centres in Tokyo and Osaka will vaccinate thousands of people every day, giving a boost to Japan's sluggish inoculation drive as the country battles a fourth wave of coronavirus infections. The Tokyo inoculation facility will operate 12 hours a day to dispense shots to 10,000 people daily for the next three months. The site in Osaka, Japan's western metropolis, will build up to about 5,000 shots a day. Large-scale inoculation sites operated by local governments also opened in the prefectures of Aichi, Miyagi, and Gunma.

Shares of semiconductor-related shares were higher on expectations of continued robust chip demand, while air and land transportation issues were bought as sell-offs amid the pandemic were regarded as excessive.

CURRENCY NEWS: The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 89.751 weaker as compared to levels above 89.7 seen recently. The Japanese yen traded at 108.83 per dollar after touching levels around 108.6 against the greenback yesterday.

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