TOKYO: Tokyo stocks rose 0.66 percent Monday morning, after a fresh record high on Wall Street and as official data showed that Japan emerged from recession in the last quarter of 2014, reported AFP.
The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange rose 118.48 points to 18,031.84 by the break, while the Topix index of all first-section shares climbed 0.80 percent, or 11.57 points, to 1,460.95.
Shortly before markets opened, government figures showed the world’s number three economy emerged from recession with growth of 0.6 percent in the October-December quarter. Forecasts had been for 0.9 percent growth.
“Even though it missed estimates, the figures are positive which means at least the direction of the recovery is right,” Ayako Sera, a markets strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, told Bloomberg News.
Wall Street provided a strong lead with the S&P 500 ending at a new record high of 2,096.99, up 0.41 percent.
The Dow added 0.26 percent and the Nasdaq advanced 0.75 percent.
