Slumping yen buoys Japanese shares
Nikkei on track for its best annual return since 1972, beating Wall St and other major bourses
Japanese shares are on track to post their best annual performance in more than four decades, far outpacing any other major bourse, mostly thanks to a plunge in the value of the yen.
The Nikkei-225 Index ended yesterday at 16,269.31 points, more than 56 per cent higher than its 2012 close of 10,395.18.
"This has been a boom year. It's been a long time since we've seen such a robust performance," said Hikaru Sato, a senior technical analyst at Daiwa Securities. "The rise beat most investors' expectations and many seem to think it will be another boom next year."
Foreign investors piled into the long-laggard Japanese market his year as the government and the central bank unveiled measures aimed to stoke the economy that sent the yen plummeting against the US dollar.
The yen has lost about a fifth of its value against the greenback this year, providing a much-needed boost to exporters such as Sony and Toyota Motor, whose goods become more competitive overseas. By late yesterday, the dollar bought 105.31 yen, well up from the 87-yen level at the end of last year.
