Stocks forged ahead on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Friday on the back of higher U.S. equities and the yen’s weakening against the dollar, pushing up the key Nikkei average above 20,000 for the first time in about 18 months.
The 225-issue Nikkei stock average soared 317.25 points, or 1.60 percent, to finish at 20,177.28, topping the psychologically important 20,000 threshold for the first time since Dec. 1, 2015, on a closing basis and hitting its highest level since Aug. 19, 2015. On Thursday, the key market gauge gained 209.46 points.
The TOPIX index of all first-section issues ended up 26.06 points, or 1.64 percent, at 1,612.20, after rising 17.77 points the previous day.
Stocks got off to a firmer start, following U.S. equities’ overnight advance attributed to a stronger-than-expected reading in Automatic Data Processing Inc.’s U.S. employment report for May, released on Thursday, brokers said.
The Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index all marked record highs in New York trading Thursday.
Also taking heart from the yen’s depreciation, investors stepped up purchases, mainly of export-oriented stocks, brokers said.
The Tokyo market attracted hefty buying as “hopes grew for strong numbers in U.S. government jobs data” for May, to be released later on Friday, after the ADP report, seen as a precursor to the government data, an official of a bank-affiliated securities firm said.
The official also said active buying by overseas investors contributed to the market’s advance.
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