Japan shares advanced on Friday, 08 January 2021, with the benchmark Nikkei stock index settling at its highest level in more than 30 years, as risk-on sentiment continued on mirroring firm global cues after lawmakers certified President-elect Joe Biden's victory, giving Democrats control of the House, Senate and the White House. Markets bet a new Democratic-controlled government would lead to heavy spending and borrowing to support the US economic recovery. Upbeat Japanese household spending data also boosted sentiment. At closing bell, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average advanced 648.90 points, or 2.36%, to 28,139.03. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange rose 28.64 points, or 1.57%, to 1,854.94. The strength on the Tokyo market came on following gains on the Wall Street overnight after U.
S. lawmakers certified President-elect Joe Biden's victory. The certification of Biden's victory along with Democratic victories in Georgia's Senate runoff elections will give Democrats control of the House, Senate and the White House. Traders seem optimistic a Democratic-controlled Congress will provide more coronavirus relief payments, infrastructure spending, and more generous passing of additional stimulus to get the economy back on track. In coronavirus developments, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency in Tokyo and three other areas on Thursday in a bid to combat a rise in coronavirus infections. The World Health Organization on Thursday warned of a tipping point in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, amid fears over more infectious variants of the virus that have contributed to a surge of infections. In economic news, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said that the average of household spending in Japan was up 1.1 percent on year in November, coming in at 278,718 yen, following the 1.9 percent increase in October. CURRENCY NEWS: The Japanese yen traded at 103.81 per dollar after weakening from levels below 103.2 against the greenback yesterday.
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