Japan 8217 s Nikkei soars on weaker yen

Tokyo shares soared today (January 27th) as the yen weakened and markets shrugged off the results of the Greek election that saw anti-austerity party Syriza win.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 ended 1.7 per cent up at 17,768.3, its highest close since late December. The broader Topix and the JPX-Nikkei Index 400 also gained 1.7 per cent. The dollar stood against the yen at 118.20.

The European Central Bank's €60 billion (£45 billion) stimulus also improved trading sentiment. "Money will be freed up to flow into equities and some of that will come into Japanese shares," said Nomura equity strategist Masaki Motomura, quoted by CNBC.

"And, with a weaker yen expected to boost recurring operating profit at Japanese companies, the Nikkei is headed to the 18,000 level by March," he added.

Shares in China fell after data showed that factory profits grew at their weakest rate in two years in 2014. The Shanghai Composite tumbled 0.9 per cent to 3,352.96, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed 0.4 per cent down at 24,807.28. The benchmark Kospi index ended 0.9 per cent up at 1,952.4.

Up to date information on the Nikkei and other indexes can be found at City Index.

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