Nikkei Soars Ahead of LDP Speaker Election
Japanese stocks closed higher on Friday as investors bet on policy continuation and stimulus opportunities ahead of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) speaker election, which could potentially produce Japan's first or youngest female prime minister. The Nikkei 225 rose 1.9% (+832.77) to 45,769.50.
The LDP will elect a successor to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Saturday. The leading candidates are Sanae Takaichi (64), a conservative nationalist who supports aggressive fiscal spending and is open to US trade renegotiations; Shinjiro Koizumi (44), a reformer who promotes household tax breaks with fiscal discipline; and Yoshimasa Hayashi (64). The winner is almost certain to become the new prime minister, inheriting a depressed party, a sluggish economy, and disillusioned young voters. The initial agenda item is hosting Donald Trump in Tokyo at the end of October.
From macro data, unemployment rose to 2.6% (August)—the highest in more than a year—with the vacancy/employee ratio falling to 1.20, indicating a slightly looser job market ahead of a potential BoJ interest rate hike.
Corporate news: Central Japan Railway (9022) rose 0.6% despite facing a JFTC hearing on antitrust allegations; subsidiary JR Central Consultants prepared a ¥140 million provision. LVJ Holdings 2 LLC plans a ¥58.5 billion tender offer to take Mitsubishi Logisnext (7105) private at ¥1,537/share (pending clearance, target end of December). Hitachi (6501) soared 9.6% after announcing a silicon-based quantum computer project with Riken and Imec: a prototype by 2027, 100 qubits by 2028, and 1,000 cloud-based qubits by 2030. (ads)
Source: Newsmaker.id
