TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average snapped a three-session slide on Friday, as a weaker yen lifted automakers and financials gained after three major banks upgraded their annual profit forecasts.
The Nikkei closed 0.28% higher at 38,642.91, but lost 2.4% for the week. It rose to a session high of 39,101.64 before paring gains on profit-booking.
The broader Topix ended 0.39% higher at 2,711.64, but posted a 1.49% weekly loss.
“The yen’s weakness has lifted Japanese shares,” said Shuutarou Yasuda, a market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory.
“Gains in European shares and Wall Street’s weak finish overnight suggest that funds that were flown into the US excessively in Trump trades are now being reallocated to other regions.”
Wall Street’s main indexes closed lower on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell dampened investor hopes for another rate cut this year by saying the US central bank need not rush to ease monetary policy.
The yen fell to 156.76 per dollar, its lowest since July 23, nearing a territory that had triggered intervention from Japanese authorities in the past.
A weaker Japanese currency tends to boost shares of exporters, as it increases the value of overseas profits in yen terms when firms repatriate them to Japan.
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