Japan’s benchmark Nikkei Stock Average reached 38,924.88 during the trading session on Thursday, surpassing the all-time high of 38,915.87 set Dec. 29, 1989, just before Japan’s economic bubble burst.
The surge signals a possible end to the country’s so-called lost decades.
The Nikkei 225 has one of the top-performing global indexes since last year, when it surged by around 30%.
Semiconductor stocks such as equipment makers Tokyo Electron and Advantest led the rally in the broader index. U.S. Chipmaker Nvidia said revenue for the November-January quarter more than tripled on the year to $22.1 billion, while net income grew more than eightfold to $12.3 billion. The company has benefited from growing demand for chips used to power artificial intelligence technology.
The average’s rise has been fueled by global investors, many of whom have entered the market for the first time, lured by corporate governance reforms, a weak yen and a tax-deferred investment program aimed at small investors, the Nippon Individual Savings Account, or NISA.
Credit: http://asia.nikkei.com
