Nikkei 225 Briefly Rises over 1,000 Points in Morning

Tokyo, Nov. 26 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average briefly rose over 1,000 points Wednesday morning, as investors bought a variety of names in anticipation of an additional U.S. interest rate cut. The key index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s top-tier Prime section ended the morning at 49,605.57, up 946.05 points, or 1.94 pct. Speculation for an early U.S. interest rate cut increased following media reports that U.S. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, who is said to favor monetary easing, is in the lead to become the next Federal Reserve chairman, brokers said. This helped lift major U.S. equity indexes overnight. On the TSE, about 90 pct of stocks on the Prime section ended the morning higher. “SoftBank Group, which had been falling until the previous day, has stopped its descent, and more investors are finding it safer to buy stocks,” an official from a domestic investment company said. SoftBank Group, which jumped over 6 pct in the morning, was the biggest contributor to the Nikkei index’s rise. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]