Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average Briefly Surges over 3,400 Points in Morning (UPDATE 2)

Jiji Press

10:02 JST, August 6, 2024

Tokyo (Jiji Press)—Japan’s key Nikkei 225 stock average jumped briefly over 3,400 points Tuesday morning after a three-day slump, scoring a record intraday point gain.

A wide range of shares attracted buying after the benchmark index suffered its largest-ever single-day point loss of 4,451.28 points Monday.

The Nikkei index finished the morning session at 34,416.32, up 2,957.90 points, or 9.40 pct, from Monday. It gained as much as 3,453.38 points, or 10.98 pct, eclipsing the previous record intraday gain of 2,677.54 points scored Oct. 2, 1990.

In the United States on Monday, all three major stock indicators fell after slumps in Tokyo and European shares.

But “U.S. stocks did not fall as much as Japanese equities did,” an official at a bank-affiliated brokerage house said. “Today is a day of a technical rebound after an excessive drop.”

In currency trading in Tokyo, the dollar attracted buybacks after concerns over a U.S. economic slowdown receded following an improvement in the service-sector purchasing managers index for July released by the Institute for Supply Management on Monday.

The dollar stood at ¥145.30-31 at noon, up from ¥143.46-47 at 5 p.m. Monday.