Nikkei: Broke the 40,000 point barrier – First time in its history – 2024-03-08 00:15:53

Japan’s Nikkei closed above 40,000 for the first time in its history today (+0.5% to 40,109.23), boosted by gains on Wall Street late last week.

Nothing seems to be stopping the main Japanese stock market of late, which has rallied 20% since the start of the year and already last month surpassed previous all-time highs dating back to late 1989.

As tech stocks edged higher, tracking their U.S. counterparts, the Nikkei stock average rose 0.79 percent to 40,226.83 by midday, surpassing Friday’s intraday high of 39,990.23.

Foreign investors appear to be leading the market and many appear to be investing with a medium- to long-term perspective, Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management, told Reuters.

“I think the market will continue to grow,” he said.

Japanese rally

Japanese tech stocks were boosted by the continued AI rally in U.S. stocks that sent the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to record highs on Friday.

Both the Nikkei and the broader Topix are top performers among the major bourses in the Asia-Pacific. The Nikkei is up more than 20% so far this year, while the Topix is ​​up nearly 15%.

The Nikkei 225 eclipsed its late-1980s bubble-era high on Feb. 22 and is the world’s best-performing major stock index this year. Japan’s central bank is widely expected to start raising interest rates this year after nearly a decade of negative rates.