TOKYO: Tokyo’s benchmark index has closed at its highest level in more than two months as a weak yen lifted the market, before closely watched US jobs data later in the day.
Traders shrugged off a weak session in New York on the eve of the US October jobs report, seen as a litmus test for the Federal Reserve’s interest rate lift-off.
“If today’s jobs report is at a level that’s in line with estimates, the probability for a rate hike this year will increase,” Juichi Wako, a senior strategist at Nomura Holdings, told Bloomberg News.
“The yen is weakening amid this speculation for higher interest rates, and that’s a plus for Japan.”
A weak yen makes Japanese exporters more competitive overseas and inflates the value of their repatriated profits.
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange rose 0.78 per cent, or 149.19 points, to 19,265.60, its best close since late August.
The broader Topix index of all first-section shares rose 0.55 per cent, or 8.49 points, to 1,563.59.
In share trading, accounting scandal-hit Toshiba rose 1.11 per cent to Y335.1 ahead of its half-year earnings release on Saturday.
Toyota was little changed, edging up 0.09 per cent to 7,502 yen as the auto giant lowered its fiscal year sales target against the backdrop of slower growth in emerging markets.
Market heavyweight Fast Retailing, operator of the Uniqlo clothing chain, advanced 1.40 per cent to Y45,400.
Embattled airbag maker Takata pared back some losses, falling six per cent to Y834. But it is still down nearly 40 per cent from its price earlier this week.
