Nikkei up following yen movement
The yen has slipped back against the US dollar.
The Nikkei had a strong day of growth today (August 21st) after Japanese currency the yen slipped back against global rivals such as the US dollar.
Exporters in Japan typically perform well when the yen is down and among the major risers on the Nikkei today was car manufacturer Mazda, which saw its shares rise by 2.77 per cent.
The Nikkei was up by 0.85 per cent on a mixed day of progress for the Asian markets, with the Topix closing the session up by 0.9 per cent, reports Reuters. However, there were falls for the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan and the main indexes in Taiwan and South Korea.
There was a rise in the latest Markit/JMMA flash Japan PMI data, which increased to its highest reading seen since March by rising to a seasonally adjusted 52.4, which is a considerable jump up from 50.5 in July.
Other major companies to record gains on the Nikkei today included Nomura Holdings, which was the best performing business on the index with a 4.27 per cent jump in its share price.
Mitsui Chemicals was up by 3.05 per cent, but Yahoo Japan slipped back by 1.57 per cent and was the Nikkei's worst performing stock of the day.
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