TOKYO: Japanese stocks rose for a third day, with the Nikkei 225 Stock Average set to close above 19,000 for the first time in almost 15 years, as robot-maker Fanuc Corp. surged to a record.
Fanuc soared 13 percent after President Yoshiharu Inaba told the Nikkei newspaper his company is considering increasing returns to investors through dividends and share buybacks. Fast Retailing Co. added 1.8 percent as JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its rating on the operator of Uniqlo stores. Property developers led gains among the 33 industry groups on the Topix index, with Mitsui Fudosan Co. jumping the most in more than four months. Eisai Co. fell 5.3 percent as drugmakers retreated.
The Nikkei 225 climbed 1.5 percent to 19,286 as of 12:41 p.m. in Tokyo, set for its highest close since April 2000. The Topix added 1.1 percent to 1,564.06, heading for an eighth weekly gain, its longest such winning streak since February 2013, and for its highest close since December 2007.
“There’s still more demand than supply and stocks don’t seem extremely overvalued,” said Ichiro Yamada, general manager of equities at Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance. “Even though there are a lot of negative risks overseas, in the current environment Japanese stocks don’t seem to be very sensitive to them.”
