Japan Nikkei closes slightly higher ahead of US-Japan summit

Japan share market finished higher in thin trading on Friday, 16 April 2021, as risk sentiments underpinned on tracking positive lead from Wall Street overnight. Meanwhile, buying was also supported by stronger than expected U.S. and Chinese economic data that cemented expectations of a solid global economic recovery.

Market upside move was, however, capped as many market players opted for a wait-and-see attitude due to the recent spikes in the number of coronavirus infection cases in Japan and ahead of a summit between Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and US President Joe Biden later in the day.

At closing bell, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average advanced 40.68 points, or 0.14%, to 29,683.37. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange added 1.74 points, or 0.09%, to 1,960.87.

Total 21 sub-indexes of the 33 sector sub-indexes on the Tokyo exchange traded higher, with Mining, Insurance, Air Transportation, Real Estate, Precision Instruments, Glass & Ceramics Products, and Oil & Coal Products issues being notable gainers, while Marine Transportation, Electric Power & Gas, and Banks issues were notable losers.

On Wall Street, stocks shot to fresh records on blowout earnings from large banks and hopes for a U.S. economic recovery following rosy March data released over the past few weeks, including better-than-expected retail sales published Thursday. The Dow climbed 0.9% to a record 34,035.99 and the broad-based S&P 500 gained 1.1% also ending at a record, while the tech-rich Nasdaq jumped 1.3%.

China's gross domestic product expanded 18.3% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2021, up sharply from the 6.5% growth in the fourth quarter of 2020, the National Bureau of Statistics said. Industrial production was up an annual 14.1% in March, retail sales skyrocketed 34.2% year-on-year in the month, and fixed asset investment jumped an annual 25.8%, while the jobless rate fell to 5.3% in March from 5.5% in February.

The country top ruling party official considers stricter Covid-19 measures for areas surrounding Tokyo. A top ruling party official suggested the possibility of canceling the Tokyo Olympics as the western metropolis of Osaka reported over 1,200 new infections Thursday, it's highest since the pandemic began.

Chip-related shares gained ground after Apple supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing reported a 19.4% rise in first-quarter profit on strong chip demand. Renesas Electronics climbed 2.5%.

Toshiba lost 6% after reports that the conglomerate plans to reject a buyout proposal from private equity firm CVC Capital Partners.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Japanese yen traded at 108.81 per dollar, having strengthened from levels above 109.6 against the greenback earlier in the trading week.

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