Japanese stocks track Wall Street gains ahead of central bank meetings

TOKYO, Dec. 13 (Reuters) – Japanese stocks closed higher on Monday, benefiting from a rally on Wall Street, with heavyweight tech stocks leading the gains as investors appeared confident of an economic recovery amid a busy week of central bank meetings.

The Nikkei stock average (.N225) rose 0.71% to close at 28,640.49, its first gain in three sessions. The larger Topix (.TOPX) closed 0.13% higher at 1,978.13.

Wall Street’s S&P 500 hit a closing record high on Friday, despite a strong consumer price impression reinforcing the case for tighter monetary policy.

Investors were apparently convinced the markets can withstand anything that comes from a series of central bank meetings this week, including the likely early end to US stimulus policy. The measured reaction suggested that a lot is already factored into the policy, while some analysts have said the supply chain issues driving the price hike are likely to be easing. Read more

The European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan are also meeting, and all are moving towards a policy of normalization at their own, often frigid, pace.

“Investors were relieved by the positive response of the US stock market to the consumer price data, which is why the Japanese market advanced today,” said Shoichi Arisawa, general manager of the investment research department. at IwaiCosmo Securities.

Chip-related Tokyo Electron (8035.T) and Advantest (6857.T) gained 1.37% and 2.37% respectively, while air conditioner maker Daikin Industries (6367.T) rose 1.66% .

Orix Corp (8591.T) rose 1.49% after local media reported that the financial services group decided to sell software firm Yayoi to US private equity firm KKR & Co (KKR .N) for about 240 billion yen ($ 2.12 billion).

Tokyo-based lender Shinsei Bank (8303.T) gave up initial losses to end up 2.51% after online financial group SBI Holdings (8473.T) managed to increase its stake in the bank at 47.77%, compared to around 20% previously.

Toyota Motor weighed the most on the Topix, losing 2.44% after the automaker extended production shutdowns at some factories in Japan due to a shortage of components shipped from parts factories across Asia. South East. Read more

Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips

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