TOKYO: Tokyo stocks jumped 2.42 percent Wednesday morning, as Japan Post shares skyrocketed in their long-awaited market debut after an $11.5 billion initial public offering, the biggest so far this year.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange advanced 451.68 points to 19,134.92 by the break.
The broader Topix index of all first-section shares climbed 1.85 percent, or 28.23 points, to 1,555.20.
Japan Post shares — along with its banking and insurance units — were listed on the Tokyo bourse following the largest offering globally since Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s record $25 billion IPO last year.
Shares in Japan Post Holdings soared 16 percent to 1,624 yen, well up from a 1,400 yen IPO price, while its banking unit’s stock jumped 14.2 percent from their offering price to 1,656 yen by the break.
But the hotly anticipated insurance unit’s offering was the morning leader, skyrocketing 43 percent to 3,160 yen.
“Japanese stocks will move strongly to reflect risk-on sentiment, following Monday and Tuesday’s gains in the US which were driven by rising oil and earnings at energy companies,” said Chihiro Ohta, a general manager at SMBC Nikko Securities.
“All eyes will be on the Japan Post IPO today,” Ohta told Bloomberg News.
“Looking at previous high-profile IPOs, the market tends to focus on the new listings and pretty much neglect everything else.”
Bucking the uptrend, Takata shares slumped more than 10 percent to 1,226 yen after the airbag maker was fined a record $200 million by US auto safety regulators.
Takata provided inadequate and inaccurate information about its explosive airbags installed in millions of cars, US regulators said. The crisis has been linked to eight deaths globally.
TDK jumped 7.56 percent to 8,530 yen after Daiwa Securities boosted its rating on the stock and as the yen weakened on the dollar — a cheaper currency is a plus for the electronics components maker’s exports.
On currency markets, the dollar rose to 121.28 yen from 121.03 yen Tuesday in New York.
The euro dropped to $1.0940 from $1.0959, while it edged up 132.70 yen from 132.64 yen.
Wall Street advanced solidly Tuesday as investors awaited the latest clues from top Federal Reserve policymakers on the timeline for an interest rate hike.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.50 percent, while the broad-based S&P 500 added on 0.27 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.39 percent.
