Japan Nikkei continues run higher for fifth day

Japan share market finished higher for fifth straight session on Thursday, 20 September 2018, with investor sentiment buoyed tracking by a mostly positive session on Wall Street overnight and news that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won a third straight term as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. However, market advances were limited as market momentum slowed after several days of big gains. Total 19 issues out of 33 TSE index inclined, with shares of Banks, Iron & Steel, Nonferrous Metals, Securities & Commodities Futures, Insurance, and Electric Power & Gas issues being notable gainers, while Pulp & Paper, Air Transportation, Metal Products, and Foods issues were notable losers. The 225-issue Nikkei average edged up 2.41 points, or 0.01%, to end at 23,674.93. The Topix index of all first-section issues finished up 1.94 points, or 0.11%, at 1,787.60.

Shares of banks and financials, and insurers were upbeat after a rise in U.S. long-term interest rates, with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group rising 1.6%, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group adding 2.65% and Mizuho Financial Group rising 1.3%. Tokio Marine Holdings advanced 1.1%, Sompo Holdings 1% and Dai-ichi Life Holdings 1.2%.

Nishimatsuya Chain Co sank 4.3% after the retailer of child and maternity clothing and goods cut its net profit forecast for the six months through August to 2.06 billion yen ($18.37 million) from 2.82 billion yen.

OFFSHORE MARKET NEWS, US stock market closed mostly higher on Wednesday, boosted by expectations that the impact of the Sino-US trade war would be smaller than feared, with the US fiscal policy package potentially outweighing any negative impact. . The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 158.60 points or 0.6% to 26,405.76 and the S&P 500 inched up 3.64 points or 0.1% to 2,907.95. The Nasdaq was down 6.07 points or 0.1% to 7,950.04.

The major European markets also closed up on Wednesday. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.4%. The German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.5% and 0.6%, respectively.

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