Tokyo Stocks Rebound on Bargain Hunting

Tokyo, Oct. 15 (Jiji Press)–Japanese stocks rebounded on Wednesday thanks to bargain hunting, following sharp falls in the previous two sessions. The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average closed at 47,672.67, up 825.35 points, or 1.76 pct, from Tuesday, after losing a total of 1,733 points, or 3.6 pct, on Friday and Tuesday amid political uncertainty in Japan and renewed trade tensions between the United States and China. On Monday, the Tokyo market was closed for a national holiday. The broader TOPIX index rose 49.65 points, or 1.58 pct, to 3,183.64 after dropping 3.8 pct over the past two market days. “Individual and other short-term investors moved to buy stocks that they believed were undervalued,” said an official at a major brokerage firm. Semiconductor-related stocks, including Tokyo Electron, attracted purchases following Dutch chipmaking equipment maker ASML’s stronger-than-expected earnings report. Still, overall trading value was relatively low due to the lack of improvement in the Japanese political and U.S.-China trade situations. “The market is expected to remain in a correction mood for the time being,” said an official at a domestic securities firm. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]