TOKYO: Tokyo stocks have eked out another gain, extending the benchmark index’s rise to an 11th straight day, its longest in more than a quarter of a century.
The Nikkei 225 at the Tokyo Stock Exchange edged up 0.06 per cent, or 11.69 points, to end Friday at 20,563.15, the longest winning streak since a 13-day run in February 1988 during the height of Japan’s stock market bubble.
The broader Topix index of all first-section shares rose 0.05 per cent, or 0.89 points, to 1,673.65.
Shortly before markets opened, Japan posted a lacklustre string of economic data including a drop in household spending as well as weak inflation and factory output figures.
But investors took the slightly better-than-expected consumer price data as a positive sign, although the weak spending figures held back Tokyo’s upside, said Toshihiko Matsuno, senior strategist at SMBC Friend Securities.
“The string of economic data released today was a mixed bag of positive and negative numbers but at least inflation beat market forecasts,” he told AFP.
Strong corporate earnings and a string of share buybacks among cash-rich Japanese firms has kept sentiment buoyant recently.
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