The Tokyo Stock Exchange was on the rise again Friday morning after returning from a holiday, inspired by the rebound on Wall Street the day before but nevertheless dominated by the wait-and-see attitude before a speech by the next governor-designate of the Bank of Japan.
The flagship Nikkei index rose 0.62% to 27,273.50 points around 12:30 a.m. GMT, and the broader Topix index advanced 0.34% to 1,981.89 points.
Market players were watching for the first public words expected on Friday morning from economist Kazuo Ueda, appointed last week by the government to head the BoJ from April, in an attempt to predict the evolution of the institution’s monetary policy.
This hearing in the lower house of the Japanese Parliament “is likely to attract attention because it is possible that the market moves significantly depending on what he says”, commented Toshiyuki Kanayama in a note from Monex.
On the side of currencies and oil
The yen rose against the dollar, which was worth 134.52 yen around 00:30 GMT against 134.70 yen Thursday at 21:00 GMT.
The Japanese currency also appreciated against the euro, which was trading for 142.58 yen against 142.73 yen the day before.
One euro was also trading for 1.0599 dollars against 1.0596 dollars on Thursday.
The oil market was in the green: shortly before 00:20 GMT the barrel of American WTI gained 0.37% to 75.67 dollars.