Nikkei bounces to 5 week high

The Nikkei's resurgence this week continued in today's (March 6th) trading session as the index jumped to a new five-week high.

After breaking a four-day losing streak earlier in the week, the Nikkei has been gaining momentum in the last couple of sessions and did so again today with a significant rise.

It added 1.6 per cent to its overall value over the course of the day, ending the trading session up at 15,134.75, which is its highest closing figure since the end of January, reports Reuters.

The gain helps to erase some of the losses stacked up by the index in the first two months of the year, when the index slipped back by around ten per cent as a result of factors such as the ongoing political instability in Ukraine.

Poor 2014

Poor performance in the first two months of 2014 for the Nikkei will have been a disappointment for investors, who saw the index rise in value by more than 50 per cent over the course of 2013. It outperformed major global rivals such as the FTSE 100 in London and the Dow Jones in New York as a result, but many investors saw the start of 2014 as a prime opportunity to take their profits out of the market.

It was another good day for the broader Topix index as well, with the market recording a 1.3 per cent rise in its value over the session. The gains were noticeable all the way across the board for the Topix, which had 32 out of its 33 total subsectors up for the day. The Topix closed the session at 1,228.36, mirroring the improvement seen on the Nikkei this week.

There was a similar clean sweep to yesterday as well, as the JPX-Nikkei Index 400, which comprises firms with high return on equity and strong corporate governance, rose as well. It gained 1.2 per cent over the course of the session to end the day at 11,113.92.

One of the main reasons for the improvement on the Nikkei and other leading Asian markets today was a weaker yen. Japanese exporters typically perform well on the Nikkei when the yen is weak as they get a better overall price for their goods and services.

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