Japan\u2019s Nikkei share average surged nearly 3% on Friday, culminating in its most significant weekly gain in over four years. The rally was spurred by robust U.S. retail sales figures that alleviated concerns about a potential recession in the world\u2019s largest economy and Japan\u2019s primary trading partner.<\/p>\n
The Nikkei closed the day at 38,062.67, marking a 3.6% increase and its second-largest daily gain of the year. The broader Topix index also saw a notable rise, finishing approximately 3% higher at 2,678.60. For the week, the Nikkei enjoyed a remarkable gain of over 8%, its strongest weekly performance since April 2020. This upturn was fueled by a combination of easing recession fears in the U.S., a halt in the yen\u2019s rapid appreciation, and signs of improved economic growth in Japan.<\/p>\n
The positive sentiment was largely influenced by Wall Street\u2019s performance on Thursday, where major indexes closed higher following a 1% increase in U.S. retail sales for July. This followed a downwardly revised 0.2% decline in June, suggesting stronger consumer spending and easing recession worries.<\/p>\n
The rally was widespread, with 219 of the Nikkei\u2019s 225 components advancing, while only 5 declined. Notable performers included Fast Retailing, which saw its shares rise by 6.2%, and Tokyo Electron, which gained 4.8%. Advantest also saw a significant increase, with its shares climbing 6.8%.<\/p>\n
The yen\u2019s depreciation against the dollar further supported Japan\u2019s export-driven stocks, with Toyota Motor, for instance, rising by about 2%.<\/p>\n
This positive turn contrasts sharply with the Nikkei\u2019s dramatic 12% drop on August 5, its largest single-day decline since Black Monday, driven by recession fears following a weak U.S. jobs report and a sharply stronger yen. Although the index has recovered some of those losses, it remains significantly below its all-time high of 42,426.77 set in mid-July.<\/p>\n
Kyle Rodda, a senior financial market analyst at Capital.com, commented, \u201cThe market is gradually recovering from last week\u2019s shock, but a full recovery may depend on the August nonfarm payrolls data. This will help determine if the recent sell-off was merely a reactionary blip or indicative of deeper economic concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among individual stocks, electrical component maker Fujikura emerged as the biggest percentage gainer on Friday, with its shares surging over 11%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Nikkei closed the day at 38,062.67, marking a 3.6% increase and its second-largest daily gain of the year. The broader Topix index also saw a notable rise, finishing approximately 3% higher at 2,678.60. For the week, the Nikkei enjoyed a remarkable gain of over 8%, its strongest weekly performance since April 2020. This upturn was fueled by a combination of easing recession fears in the U.S., a halt in the yen\u2019s rapid appreciation, and signs of improved economic growth in Japan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":413,"featured_media":31934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[3455,268,18107,16126,4153,16124,11718,5116,18231,4659],"class_list":["post-31933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-japan","tag-economic-growth","tag-japan","tag-japans-nikkei","tag-japanese-economy","tag-nikkei","tag-nikkei-crash","tag-nikkei-index","tag-toyota-motor","tag-us-retail","tag-wall-street"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/413"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}