Nikkei Jumps over 1,500 Points to Hit New Intraday High

Tokyo, Feb. 10 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average briefly jumped more than 1,500 points to hit a new all-time intraday high on Tuesday morning, boosted by broad-based buying following a rise in U.S. stocks Monday. At 10:29 a.m., the Nikkei index of 225 selected issues listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Prime section stood up 1,557.46 points, or 2.76 pct, from Monday at 57,921.40. Investors continued to buy Tokyo stocks on the back of the Japanese ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s sweeping victory in Sunday’s House of Representatives election and the strength of U.S. technology stocks, an official of a major brokerage house said. In Tokyo currency trading, the dollar weakened against the yen amid worries about a possible dollar-selling, yen-buying market intervention. At 10 a.m., the dollar stood at 155.98-156.00 yen, down from 156.59-59 yen at 5 p.m. on Monday. Japanese government bonds drew purchases. In Tokyo interdealer trading Tuesday morning, the yield on the most recent issue of 10-year JGBs, regarded as the country’s benchmark long-term interest rate, fell to 2.255 pct, down 0.02 percentage point from late Monday. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]