The Tokyo Stock Exchange closed on Monday up, encouraged in particular by the ratification by Donald Trump of the American stimulus plan, while Hong Kong ended up in the red and mainland Chinese places close to balance.
Tokyo’s Nikkei flagship index gained 0.74% to 26,854.03 points and the Topix extended index 0.54% to 1,788.04 points.
Under pressure, Donald Trump finally ratified on Sunday evening the new stimulus plan for the US economy, amounting to 900 billion dollars.
While he had so far refused to promulgate it, he had promised Sunday “good news” about this plan negotiated hard between elected Democrats and Republicans, but on which the American president at the end of his mandate had demanded modifications.
This outcome gave a boost to exchanges in Tokyo, where investors also appreciated the start this weekend of vaccination campaigns against Covid-19 in the European Union, very affected by the pandemic.
In Hong Kong, concerns about the new strain of the coronavirus weighed more heavily: the Hang Seng index weakened over the course of the session to end with a small decline (-0.27% to 26,314.63 points).
The Shanghai composite index stagnated (+ 0.02% to 3,397.29 points), as did that of Shenzhen (-0.04% to 2,273.01 points).
On the value side
AIRLINES PENALIZED: The titles of Japanese airlines have been affected by new restrictions on international travel announced this weekend by the Japanese government in the face of the worsening of the pandemic in Japan and the appearance in the country of the new strain of coronavirus: ANA Holdings dropped 1.44% to 2,148.5 yen and Japan Airlines (JAL) lost 2.1% to 1,861 yen.
SPANISH ACQUISITION FOR ORIX: shares of Japanese financial group Orix Corp jumped 2.4% to 1,575.5 yen. The group on Monday confirmed an agreement to acquire 80% of the Spanish renewable energy company Elawan, active in wind and solar in Europe, North America and South America.
The transaction, worth around 100 billion yen (nearly 800 million euros), is due to be finalized in the second quarter of 2021.
On the currency and oil side
The yen appreciated against the dollar, at a rate of one dollar to 103.42 yen around 9:00 GMT against 103.65 yen last Thursday before the Christmas break on the foreign exchange market.
Conversely, the Japanese currency retreated against the euro, which was worth 126.57 yen against 126.32 yen last Thursday.
The euro climbed to $ 1.2238, compared to $ 1.2187 before Christmas.
Slightly in the red during trading in Asia, the oil market then turned the tide. At around 08:50 GMT, the price of a barrel of US crude WTI gained 0.87% to 48.65 dollars and that of a barrel of London Brent 0.76% to 51.68 dollars.
etb / esp
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