TOKYO: Tokyo’s benchmark index marched toward its longest rally in more than a quarter of a century on Thursday morning, boosted by a slumping yen and a record close on Wall Street.
The Nikkei 225 at the Tokyo Stock Exchange rose 0.67 percent, or 136.70 points, to 20,609.28 by the break, heading for a 10-session gain that would be its longest winning streak since a 13-day run in February 1988.
The broader Topix index of all first-section shares climbed 0.94 percent, or 15.57 points, to end the morning at 1,676.90.
Major Japanese exporters got a boost as the dollar surged, at one point touching 124.25 yen , its strongest level since late 2002.
“It’s likely that the yen will continue to slowly weaken and we’ll have a global risk-on mode, stocks won’t rise too quickly but they’ll have a steady climb,” Mitsushige Akino, executive officer at Ichiyoshi Asset Management, told Bloomberg News.
“The US economy is OK and as Yellen said recently, the US is trying to raise rates,” he said.
