Japanese Stock Market Hits Record High Ahead of Takaichi Cabinet Launch

The Nikkei 225, Japan's benchmark stock index (hereafter referred to as the Nikkei Index), once again reached a record high on October 21.

Sanae Takaichi, President of the Liberal Democratic Party. Photo by AP Yonhap News

As of 9:41 a.m. on this day, the Nikkei Index stood at 49,695, up 1.04% from the previous trading day. Shortly after the market opened, it climbed as high as 49,739, setting an intraday record high for the second consecutive day.

Kyodo News reported, "Buying orders driven by expectations for the new administration's economic policies flowed in, and the overnight rise in the U.S. stock market also served as a positive factor."

Sanae Takaichi, President of the Liberal Democratic Party, is virtually certain to be elected as the new Prime Minister to succeed Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in a prime ministerial designation vote to be held at an extraordinary session of the National Diet on the afternoon of October 21. Having secured party leadership by winning the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election on October 4, she faced a crisis when the Komeito Party, which had maintained a cooperative relationship with the Liberal Democratic Party for 26 years, withdrew from the coalition. However, on the previous day, she reached an agreement to form a new coalition government with the Japan Innovation Party, the country's second-largest opposition party.

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