Daiwa Securities Group reported its highest quarterly profit in seven years on Wednesday, underscoring the brightening outlook for Japan’s brokerage industry as a result of the market-boosting policies of the country’s new premier.

Daiwa, Japan’s second-largest broker after industry leader Nomura Holdings, booked a net profit of 48.7 billion yen (HK$3.9 million) for January-March, its fiscal fourth quarter, more than quadruple the 10.9 billion yen (HK$865.8 million) earned in the same period last year.

The result was higher than market expectations, with the average of two analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters predicting a net profit of 24.3 billion yen (HK$1.9 billion), and was the broker’s best performance since it logged a 55.3 billion (HK$4.4 billion) profit in January-March 2006.