Japan Nikkei rebounds on bargain buying

Japan share market bounced back from a 14-week low on Friday, 28 January 2022, snapping five days of losing streak, as investors chased for bargain hunting after the recent Fed-induced sell-off, with sentiments buoyed by Apple Inc.'s solid earnings.

However, market gains were limited amid concerns about the raging spread of the coronavirus omicron variant and its impact on the pace of economic recovery, with daily new COVID-19 cases in Japan surging to a new record of 78,929 cases on Thursday, topping the 70,000 mark for the second day in a row to push hospitals and clinics to the breaking point.

At closing bell, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average advanced 547.04 points, or 2.09%, to 26,717.34. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange gained 34.45 points, or 1.87%, to 1,876.89.

Total trading value turnover on Nikkei225 index stood at 2.06 billion yen. Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Nikkei225 index by 202 to 22 and 1 closed unchanged.

Total 32 of 33 TSE issues closed higher, with top performing issues were Marine Transportation, Chemicals, Pulp & Paper, Transportation Equipment, Mining, Nonferrous Metals, and Oil & Coal Products issues.

Shares of exporters got a boost from the yen depreciation against the U.S. dollar. Sony Group rose4%, Toyota Motor added 3.4% and Fuji Electric added 10.4%. Fast Retailing rose 3.4% and SoftBank Group gained 2.2%.

Chip-oriented issues closed mixed, with Advantest climbing 4.1% after projecting a significant increase in its operating profit, while Shin-Etsu Chemical jumped 7.6%, after releasing solid earnings for the April to December period. Tokyo Electron, however, dropped 1.3%.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Consumer prices in the Tokyo region of Japan were up 0.5% on year in January 2022, down from 0.8% in December 2021, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday. On a monthly basis, inflation was up 0.3%. Core CPI, which excludes volatile food prices, rose annual 0.2% in December, down from 0.5% in the previous month.

CURRENCY NEWS: The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, last traded at 97.333, up from 97.225 earlier. Meanwhile, the Japanese yen traded at 115.66 per dollar.

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