Japan's Topix tops 3,000 for first time on tariff clarity; SoftBank soars
People take pictures of a monitor displaying Topix share average and Nikkei share average outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, July 4, 2024. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo
TOKYO :Japan's Topix index climbed above the key psychological mark of 3,000 points for the first time on Friday, underpinned by clarity over U.S. tariffs and a run of strong earnings reports.
Automakers rallied, with Toyota jumping 3.5 per cent.
SoftBank Group surged more than 10 per cent after the artificial-intelligence-focused technology investor swung back to profit in the first quarter.
"There has been a string of positive news at an unexpected time," said Mutsumi Kagawa, an analyst at Marine Strategies.
"With stock prices soaring, there's the fear of missing out, and there are likely to be a lot of investors newly buying shares. This is starting to look like a short squeeze."
The U.S. government on Thursday promised to amend a presidential executive order to remove overlapping tariffs on Japanese goods, Tokyo's trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said.
U.S. officials will lower auto tariffs to 15 per cent from 27.5 per cent, in line with the agreement on trade reached by the two countries last month.
The broad Topix rose as much as 1.7 per cent to a record peak of 3,038.84, although momentum waned in the afternoon session and the index ended the day up 1.2 per cent.
The more tech-focused Nikkei share average rallied as much as 2.4 per cent to 42,033.92, its highest point since July 24, before closing the day with a 1.9 per cent advance.
SoftBank led the gains on the Nikkei, contributing about 259 points to the index's 761-point rally.
The startup investor's "multi-decade campaign to pioneer transformative platforms is achieving fruition in AI now, and is being understood by the market," said Richard Kaye, a portfolio manager at Comgest.
Shares of Sony Group gained 3.5 per cent, adding to its earnings-fuelled 4.1 per cent advance from Thursday.
Among automakers, those most reliant on the U.S. market led the gains, with Mazda climbing 4.9 per cent and Subaru leaping 5.4 per cent.
The standout loser was Chugai Pharmaceutical, which plummeted nearly 18 per cent after trials showed Eli Lilly's experimental weight-loss drug, licensed from Chugai, was less effective than Novo Nordisk's Wegovy.
