Nikkei Surpasses 30,000 During Trading... Highest in Over 30 Years (Comprehensive)

(Source: Bloomberg News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] The Nikkei Index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Japan surpassed the 30,000 mark during trading on the 15th.

As of 1:18 PM that day, the Nikkei 225 index was at 30,033.98, up 1.74% from the previous close. The index started the day higher and at one point in the morning rose to 30,024.16 before fluctuating.

This is the first time the Nikkei 225 index has exceeded the 30,000 level during trading since August 1999, during the bubble economy period, over 30 years ago.

The index has been on an upward trend since hitting a low of 16,552.83 in March last year.

Amid expectations for COVID-19 vaccines, strong earnings from cyclical companies such as SoftBank and Nippon Steel have driven the record-high streak.

Expectations for economic measures in the US and Europe also contributed to boosting investor sentiment that day.

On the same day, Japan's Cabinet Office announced that real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the fourth quarter of last year (October to December) increased by 3.0% compared to the previous quarter, marking positive growth.

Assuming this trend continues for a year, the annualized real GDP growth rate is estimated at 12.7%. According to the US economic media CNBC, this is higher than economists' average estimate of 9.5%.

Shoji Hirakawa, Chief Global Strategist at the Tokyo Research Institute, said, "All investors, including individuals, institutions, and foreigners, are jumping into buying Japanese stocks with an optimistic outlook."

Meanwhile, the Fukushima earthquake incident that occurred on the 13th is estimated to have less damage compared to 2011, but the possibility of aftershocks remains, which could act as a burden on further index gains, according to some assessments.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.