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| - Tokyo stocks opened higher Monday following modest gains on Wall Street as investors appeared to shrug off data confirming the Japanese economy has slipped into its first recession since 2015. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.45 percent, or 90.57 points, to 20,128.04 in early trade while the broader Topix index was up 0.39 percent, or 5.68 points, at 1,459.45. Official data released just before the market opened showed the world's third-largest economy shrank 0.9 percent in the January-March quarter, suffering a contraction for the second consecutive quarter, the definition of a technical recession. The gloomy figure was even before the pandemic shut down much of the economy and analysts warn the worst is yet to come. Nevertheless, the first-quarter result was slightly better than economists had forecast, with expectations for a 1.1 percent decline. The Japanese currency barely moved on the GDP data, with the dollar trading at 107.22 yen against 107.17 yen in New York Friday afternoon. Wall Street stocks finished higher Friday despite weak retail sales data and US action against Chinese telecoms giant Huawei that escalated Washington's tensions with Beijing. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 0.3 percent while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 0.8 percent. Friday's market move suggests "investors are now placing more value on forward-looking indicators rather than real economic prints, which we all know have been negatively impacted by containment measures against COVID-19," said Rodrigo Catril, strategist at National Australia Bank. "Talks of an acceleration in the discovery of a COVID-19 vaccine appears to have helped sentiment," he added. Okasan Online Securities noted the Nikkei had climbed above the 20,000-level "on hopes for economic restart" after Japan lifted its virus state of emergency for most of the country. "But the market lacks momentum to chase higher prices due to a worsening in US-China relations and the prospect that it will take some time until the coronavirus situation settles down," it added. SoftBank Group gained 1.55 percent to 4,645 yen after the Japanese telecoms and investment giant announced it would buy back up to 500 billion yen ($4.6 billion) of its own stock, or 6.7 percent of the outstanding shares. The struggling conglomerate is to announce its annual earnings results later Monday. It had warned of a $7 billion net loss for the year ended March due to the negative impact of coronavirus and losses related to WeWork. SoftBank Group also announced Chinese billionaire Jack Ma would resign from its board at a shareholders' meeting set for June 25. Among other individual stocks, Honda rose 0.73 percent to 2,471 yen while Sony was down 1.82 percent at 6,740 yen. mis/ric/mtp
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