Tokyo investors look to Japan data – Trading Room

TOKYO, June 21 AFP

June 21 2013, 9:05PM

Tokyo investors will be eyeing key Japanese economic data next week as the market continues to digest the implications of a possible winding down of Fed stimulus later this year, dealers say.

After weeks of wild volatility that saw the Nikkei briefly tumble about 20 per cent off a five-year high in May, the benchmark index has bounced back over the past five sessions.

The Nikkei rose rose 4.28 per cent, or 543.61 points, to 13,230.13 in the week to June 21, after a 1.48 per cent decline the previous week.

The broader Topix index of all first-section shares gained 4.07 per cent, or 42.95 points, to 1,099.40.

“The US and other stock markets are expected to remain under selling pressure, which will also affect the Tokyo market,” said Kenzaburo Suwa, strategist with Okasan Securities.

“But a decline in Tokyo may be limited thanks to a weak yen against the dollar. Players will continue to search for the current bottom following the recent huge slide.”

Next week investors will focus on key economic figures, including inflation and industrial production, as markets try to gauge the impact of an economy-boosting plan by Japanese premier Shinzo Abe, dubbed “Abenomics”.

On Friday, Tokyo stocks finished 1.66 per cent higher – reversing earlier losses following a slump on Wall Street – as US dollar-buying pushed down the yen, giving a boost to exporters.

Japan’s premier bourse had lost more than two per cent in the first few minutes as dealers took a cue from the biggest one-day fall of the year for the Dow on Wall Street.

Worries over a likely end to the Federal Reserve’s hefty stimulus measures this year and poor Chinese manufacturing data sent investors running for cover.

But with an end to the US stimulus meaning there will be fewer dollars in the financial system, demand for the greenback picked up, providing upward momentum for equities.

In afternoon forex trade the US dollar bought 97.76 yen, compared with 97.27 yen in New York late Thursday.

A weaker yen helps Japanese exporters as it makes their products cheaper overseas, while a strong yen deteriorates their repatriated profits.

“The market has the look of selling having been exhausted,” an equity trading director at a foreign brokerage told Dow Jones Newswires.

“Participation levels seem to show that many unidirectional traders who had been shorting the yen and going long on Nikkei futures have cleared out now, which should allow the market to find its footing.”

US stocks plunged on Thursday, extending one per cent losses Wednesday after Fed chief Ben Bernanke said it could begin pulling back its $US85 billion-a-month bond-buying late this year and wind it up by mid-2014.

On Wall Street the Dow lost nearly 354 points, or 2.3 per cent – its largest points fall since November 9, 2011. European bourses also fell sharply.

As Japan heads into the final month before July 21 upper house elections investors can expect even more market-friendly rhetoric from the government, said an equity trading director at a foreign brokerage.

The polls are key for Abe who is trying to solidify his power base following victory in the lower house last December.