Nikkei Average Hits Record Intraday High in Morning

Tokyo, May 11 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average briefly rose over 600 points to hit a new record intraday high on Monday morning thanks to purchases following gains in U.S. high-tech issues late last week. At 9:21 a.m., the index of 225 issues listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Prime top-tier section rose as high as 63,385.04, up 671.39 points, or 1.07 pct, from Friday’s close, surpassing the previous record of 63,091.14 marked on Thursday. Stocks later came under pressure from profit-taking, with the Nikkei average finishing the morning at 62,486.84, down 226.81 points. In the U.S. market Friday, the tech-heavy U.S. Nasdaq Composite Index hit a record high as the stock price of Intel, a major U.S. semiconductor manufacturer, jumped after it was reported that Apple had commissioned chip production for its products. Following this, semiconductor-related stocks were bought in the Tokyo market. Still, investors were “increasingly cautious about higher stock prices as funds were concentrated on high-tech issues in both Japan and the United States,” a major securities firm official said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]