Nikkei Average Hits Post-Bubble High

Jiji Press

9:16 JST, May 19, 2023

Tokyo, May 19 (Jiji Press)—Tokyo stocks got off to a strong start Friday, with the benchmark Nikkei average hitting the highest level since the collapse of Japan’s bubble economy in the early 1990s.

At 9:04 a.m., the Nikkei average of 225 selected issues listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Prime section stood at 30,924.57, up 350.64 points, or 1.15 pct, from Thursday. The index surpassed its previous post-bubble high of 30,670.10 marked in September 2021.

High-priced semiconductor and other electronic parts issues attracted purchases on the back of Wall Street’s overnight rise and the yen’s weakening against the dollar, brokers said.

In Tokyo currency trading, the dollar stood at ¥138.62-63 at 9 a.m., up sharply from ¥137.81-81 at 5 p.m. Thursday.