Japanese stock market hit all-time high

The Nikkei, the representative stock index of Japan, exceeded 40,000 yen on Monday for the first time in its history after many consecutive days of a rising trend.

The Nikkei closed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange at 40,109.23 yen on Monday, which is 0.5 percent higher than the previous trading day. The stock index didn’t stop even after exceeding the previous record of 38,915 yen set in December 1989 during the bubble economy on February 22. After six trading days, it hit the 40,000-yen mark for the first time in history.

The rising trend of the stock index was led by technology stocks, including semiconductors, as stocks related to artificial intelligence and semiconductors have been rising in the New York Stock Exchange. Due to the prolonged yen depreciation at over 150 yen per dollar, export-related stocks are also garnering attention. For example, the stock of Tokyo Electron, a well-known semiconductor equipment company, rose 2.37 percent, and the stock price of Toyota, the biggest Japanese company in terms of market capitalization, increased 2.28 percent.

“It reflects the market’s positive assessment of economic changes in Japan,” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on the new record set by the Nikkei during a National Diet meeting on Monday.


도쿄=이상훈 특파원 sanghun@donga.com