TOKYO: Tokyo stocks rose 0.86 percent Tuesday morning, with Toyota hitting an intraday record, after a strong lead from Wall Street as weak US data tempered talk of an early Federal Reserve rate hike.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange added 165.51 points to 19,411.57 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section shares climbed 0.68 percent, or 10.59 points, to 1,568.80.
The world’s biggest automaker Toyota helped lift the market, jumping 1.07 percent at one stage to an intraday record of 8,367.0 yen.
Higher corporate earnings and rising wages have fuelled expectations for a recovery in Japanese consumer spending, which has been hammered since Tokyo raised the sales tax in April last year.
“An optimistic mood is spreading in developed markets, and I expect the Japanese market to follow suit,” said Toshihiko Matsuno, chief strategist at SMBC Friend Securities.
“We continue to see a situation where risk money flows into Japan and Europe on the back of their monetary policies,” he told Bloomberg News.
During the market’s midday break, the Bank of Japan (BoJ), wrapping up a two-day policy meeting, held off widening its stimulus programme.
