Tokyo stocks opened higher on Thursday

Tokyo stocks opened higher on Thursday extending gains on Wall Street, where investors were reassured by the Bank of England’s intervention that helped push bond yields lower.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.85 percent, or 223.59 points, to 26,397.57, while the broader Topix index added 0.29 percent, or 5.30 points, to 1,860.45, reports BSS.

The dollar fetched 144.43 yen, against 144.11 yen in New York on Wednesday. Following a historic slump in the pound, the BoE announced it was temporarily buying up long-dated UK government bonds “to restore orderly market conditions”.

In both Britain and the United States the move pressured Treasury bond yields, which had risen sharply as central banks hiked interest rates.

“The impact of the BoE’s announcement was to see the 30-year gilts yield fall from an earlier high of 5.12 percent to a low of 3.92 percent, a quite extraordinarily one-day move,” said Ray Attrill, a National Australia Bank analyst.

This in turn spurred a reversal in government bond yields globally, prompting a reaction from Tokyo investors as well.

“The US market rallied significantly following the lowering of bond yields”, which was “expected to push stocks in Japan higher as the session opens”, said Toshiyuki Kanayama, senior market analyst of Monex.

Among major shares in Tokyo, SoftBank Group rose 1.45 percent to 5,010 yen, Sony Group was up 0.80 percent to 9,648 yen and Toyota inched up 0.17 percent to 1,957 yen.

Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing jumped 3.24 percent to 80,400 yen.

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