Nikkei hits one week high

The Nikkei had a strong day of trading today (February 10th) to get the new week off to a high and suggest its bad start to the year is being put behind the index.

After slipping badly during the course of January, February saw the Nikkei bounce back and today's trading saw it reach a one-week high, erasing the losses seen earlier this month.

The Nikkei was up by 1.8 per cent and closed the session at 14,718.34 points, which is the highest the index has ended the day since the end of January, reports Reuters.

Weak jobs data released in the US on Friday does not appear to have had a negative impact on the major Asian market, as investors turn back to the Nikkei after taking their investments out of the index at the start of the year.

Start of 2014

After 2013 was a great year for the Nikkei, with its performance outstripping those of the Dow Jones and the FTSE 100 over the 12-month period, the start of 2014 saw it fall away badly.

The future for the Nikkei is now looking a bit brighter after it was able to move away from a four-month low of 13,995.86 hit last week. There was further good news for other Asian markets, as the Topix rose 1.3 per cent to 1,204.28. Some 31 of its 33 subsectors were in positive territory for the day, indicating strong growth across the index.

However, only a total of 2.19 billion shares were recorded as having changed hands, which was the lowest to have been seen on the Topix since January 20th.

Investors around the world have been cautious in the last couple of weeks as they wait to see how Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen adapts to the new role. She recently took over the position from Ben Bernanke and the finance world is eagerly awaiting how she leads the Fed.

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